Red Eyes, Straw Hat
by DNRtone
Summary: Uchiha Madara, co-founder of the Marines, scourge of the sea, possessed of the Sharingan. His eyes have gone down in history as the most terrible weapons of the millennium. three hundred years after his death Monkey D. Luffy eats a fruit...
1. Chapter 1

Three hundred years before the beginning of our story. two combatants face off among the smoking ruin that once was a Navy Base. The wreckage of numerous warships sinking into the turbulent waters off shore.

One combatant stood upon a giant tree root, long brown hair blowing in the wind. A white navy coat hanging over red samurai style armor. This man is none other than Hashirama senju the first Fleet admiral of the first Unified World peace keeping force, the Marines.

Yes, The new hope for a world quietly at war with itself. no more would countries fight each other for jurisdiction of the sea. no more would the Nations further away from the holy land have to fend for themselves. The protection of the World Government would finally truly extend to the world. thirty two new nations had already joined the world government because of the protection the Marines offered, including the nation of his dear friend. Hashirama knew, even if it would be difficult, even if it would seem bleak at times, the world would find its way towards peace and he was proud to have been instrumental in making the world take another step towards that dream. His opponent did not believe the future to be so bright.

His opponent, His one time enemy, one time friend, the man had stood by him to fulfill the dream of world peace. they had founded the Marines together for that dream.

Uchiha Madara.

He stood atop the head of a sea king, clad in red armor, A great mane of spiky black hair blowing wildly in the wind. In one hand he held A large war fan and in the other a Kama but the weapons that made Madara truly dangerous were his red eyes. the Sharingan.

"Stop this Madara! You will destroy everything we worked towards! What happened to your dream!? What about peace?" Hashirama yelled up to his friend hoping to bring him out of whatever madness had gripped him.

"If you wanted that peace you wouldn't stop me!" Madara answered back. "This world can never know peace."

"I understand your concerns but you are going too far! You will undo everything! Think about your brothers!" Hashirama pleaded. "I do not wish to kill you."

"you are going to have to If you want me to stop!" Madara yelled back getting into a ready position atop the sea king. "Come Hashirama, Let us decide here and now! will the world know peace!? Or will it destroy itself!" And with that Madara and the sea king surged forward. "Hashirama!"

"So be it." The root at hashirama's feet moved and twisted in form as it surged forward to meet Madara.

what followed would become the most well known battle to ever devastate the grand line.

upon the surviving warships The first recruits of the marines watched the battle. The light of of the many fires being the only thing to illuminate it. Trees grew and were burned to cinders in black fire while giant figures fought. the marines wasted little time distancing themselves from the island further as several of their ships were reduced to little more than spinsters, not one of the marines saw what had done it.

They remained just within sight of the island as they watched it, obscured by smoke and lit by blue or black flames for an entire day before the sounds of combat died down. when they arrived at was supposed to be an island miles across, they were shocked beyond words to find nothing more than a collection of rocks barely above sea level. the battle of their admirals had ended and maps would have to be redrawn with one less island.

Hashirama stood over his friend. Madara lay on the ground, his breathing labored and his eyes barely open.

"I will protect the peace of this world. and bring to justice anyone that threatens it." Hashirama said with conviction despite his tired and wounded state. "be they friend, sibling, or even my own child."

"You have changed..." Madara gasped out with a humorless chuckle. "You have your priorities backwards. eventually it will lead the world down a path of darkness." and with that Madara died.

history would remember this fight as the Battle of the End. Senju Hashirama would go down in history as the first Fleet admiral and be known for the words he spoke this day as the Father of Justice. and Uchiha Madara, regardless of Hashirama's words or the inaccuracy of the title, would be know as the First Pirate.

-15 years before story's beginning-

Dr. Vegapunk stood crouched among the fire that was once his lab. His Top secret lab that no one but Kong should have known about. The lab dedicated to attempting the replication of one of the greatest weapons the seas had ever had the misfortune to bear. The Sharingan.

When he had been approach by the world government he had taken to the task as a challenge to be surmounted. With some outside and unauthorized help he had succeeded once in creating a working, if unfinished, pair of eyes. but the subject that possessed them was dead and only one eye remained.

And now he did not even have a lab to work with. all his data, every failed specimen, up in flames.

And all because of the man that stood before him.

"Madara." Vegapunk growled out. He never once believed the man before him was really Madara. not even back when 'Madara' had first offered his assistance. after all there was not a single devil fruit known to the world that conferred its bearer with immortality that he knew of. But the man_ was _powerful. "What is the meening of this?"

"Professor." 'Madara' replied in his usual bored tone. "I no longer have need for your assistance. And I have let you borrow this research for long enough."

"Borrow!?" Vegapunk exclaimed.

"Yes." Madara said simply. "don't forget, professor, it was I that gave you your breakthrough."

"And don't forget 'Madara' It was I _you_ came to." Vegapunk shot back. "_You_ Needed_ me._ Don't forget that!"

Madara chuckled. "You are more intelligent than even your reputation boasts. But I do not need you anymore and this research is too dangerous to be left in your hands." the air around Madara started to ripple and pull inward around the sole eye hole in the figures mask.

"Don't think I will let you get away!" Vegapunk yelled pulling one of his experimental weapons from his coat. it was little more than a tube with a trigger on it, it was only a prototype he could make all the embellishments later. A yellow light formed at the tip of the gun's barrel.

Madara's form spiraled away before the laser gun was even fully charged. Leaving Vegapunk standing in his lab gritting his teeth as the marine's finally arrived on the scene.

-10 years before story's beginning-

The Red-Hair pirate crew laughed and sand as they had yet another party. They had set up on the beach with a large bon fire going, the pirates had also gathered fruits from the surrounding island, caught fish and pulled out several barrels of sake in order to have a grand feast.

The pirates mingled about swapping stories of their most recent battle or about humorous occurrences during their watch. It was a boisterous event. The occasion?  
There was no occasion. They just liked having parties, and their captain made sure they had lots of them, Shanks himself sat with a bottle of Sake in hand as he took in the sight of his very lively crew with pride in his eyes. Here he was, ten years since the death of the pirate king, his first captain, and here he was with a crew of his own, living with all the freedom befitting a pirate on the high seas.

He was thinking of going to the Grand Line with this crew. Maybe pick up a few more people on the way. It was about time they Set off for a real adventure.

A crew member nearby picked up what looked like a deep red sea urchin, he moved to take a bite out of it. Shanks saw this and immediately jumped up grabbing his hand before he could bring the thing to his mouth.

"What do you think you're doing?" Shanks asked "This thing could be poisonous!" Shanks took the thing from the crew man's hands and took a closer look at it. He was surprised to find that it was a fruit, made up of what looked like blood red and black tomoe, each of their point coming off the fruit to form the spines Shanks had mistaken for urchin quills, they were surprisingly soft. Atop the fruit was a black stem ending in what looked like a pin wheel. Shanks knew what this was.

"A devil fruit…" Ben said coming up behind him.

"Yeah." Shanks said looking down at the fruit in his hands. He had seen the power these could bestow upon a person, the possibilities with that kind of strength at his disposal were almost endless. Shanks shook his head, as tempting as it was to take but a single bite from the fruit and claim the power as his own he had lived by a policy of building his own strength. Any power he had or will have was gained through his own efforts. "These things are worth a lot of money. I heard one even sold for a hundred million belli." Shanks said at last, a smile on his face as he looked to his first mate.

Ben tool a closer look at the fruit, a contemplative look on his face. "Don't you recognize this fruit Captain?"

"Eh? Not really. Why? Have we come across it before?" Shanks said giving the fruit another look over. Now that Ben mentioned it the fruit did look familiar.

"It's the Sharin Sharin no Mi." Ben said simply.

"Oi Oi. You're not serious are you?" Shanks asked looking back at the fruit in disbelief.

Ben shuffled through a stack of papers before pulling out one in particular with a hand drawn sketch on the front. "No doubt about it. The Sharin Sharin no Mi. Its the only devil fruit with an official bounty."

"How much?" Shanks asked taking a swig of Sake

"One billion belli."

Shanks choked on his sake Coughing Violently. That was a lot of money. Money that could buy Sake. Then again he was more than just a well known pirate on the grand line, it was hardly as if he could just walk in an cash a bounty even on a good day. Then again with the promise of a billion belli Shanks was willing to bet he could get several hundred million for it on the black market. "A billion belli huh? I like the sound of that." Shanks said with a smile as he wiped his mouth.

Ben nodded, retrieving a small box to place the fruit in. They couldn't run the risk of someone accidentally eating it.

-The Story begins-

The sky over Logue town was dark and cloudy, Low and oppressive.

The plaza In the center of town was packed with civilians held hostage and pirates holding celebration, waiting in the wings were the towns entire contingent of marines. Every one there to see an execution.

Atop the platform stood a man. Buggy the Clown an infamous pirate and a big nosed clown. But this is not the man who currently held the attention of all present. The one who did this was hardly more than a boy, held down by wooden restraints as Buggy brought a sword up to sever the teen's straw-hat covered head from his body.

"DO you have any last words, Straw-hat Luffy!?" Buggy asked ready to end the teen's life.

Luffy took a deep breath and looked out upon the gathered crowd. "**I Will Be The One Who Becomes King Of The Pirates!**" He yelled with utter conviction, like he was not about to die.

Every single person took a step back at the boys words and the eyes that looked down upon them, Red the color of blood. The eyes of a Demon. Powerful eyes.

The Sharingan had returned to the seas.

-END-

**right so that took me a little longer than expected. I was doing other stuff and this kinda took a back seat.**

**well I promised that there would be five chapters but obviously there is but one. I will get to work on the other four in a bit.**

**So when I declared that I was rewriting this i got a few comments. some of them confused me. like the request to make Luffy Super Powerful in order to make the story good. I honestly don't see the connection. One does not equal the other. Making Luffy super godly powerful would in fact be incredibly shitty writing and would serve no other purpose than to stroke everyone's collective fan boner. No thank you.**

**I also received a request to cut the Naruto characters, obviously I didn't do that. because I want there to still be history behind the Sharingan as well as having a chance for me to write in the characters that I liked. **

**having said this I am open to criticism just not requests for changes as drastic as what has been asked of me, especially before I even got started on this. It is my story and I will write it as I choose. however if you wish to point out things that didn't make sense or confuse you or are simply riddled with errors let me know and I will see what I can do about fixing those.**

**Also the concept is up for grabs so if you guys want to read the exact story you want then just go write it. that's the point of fanfiction anyway isn't it? I would actually really like to read somebody else take on this story.**

**right so I will get onto writing the other chapters eventually. soon. I promise.**

**maybe.**


	2. Chapter 2

Aoba Yamashiro looked at the men and women gathered in the small meeting room. Each one a Captain or Commodore who, in addition to their other duties, had been selected to act as jury for new bounties coming in and out of the east blue and decide what action, if any, should be taken in addition to the issuing of said bounty. As a captain of the intelligence division it was Aoba's job to brief them before they made their verdict.

"So…" One of the captains spoke, a man with a bowl cut wearing a green bodysuit began. Maito Gai, a man famed for his skills in hand to hand as well as his… eccentricities. "This new pirate crew is too strong for us to send a military force after them?" Guy asked although he was trying to stay professional he was clearly fidgeting. He always did so when he came to these meetings. It must be hard for the man to sit still for so long.

"Correct." Aoba said before turning to the board behind him. "Ever since their formation and their subsequent defeat of captain Ax Hand Morgan they've-"Aoba was cut off when a newcomer strolled into the room as if the meeting was not happening at all. "Captain Hatake you're late… Again." Aoba said not really putting much effort into the accusation. The frequency with which he did this and his nonchalant attitude made it a largely futile effort.

"Ah. Sorry Yamashiro-san, I was fishing down by the pier and noticed the way the sun glinted off the waves and was so transfixed by the ocean's beauty that I lost track of the time." Kakashi lied with a perfectly straight face, not that there was much of his face to see as he had the bottom half of his face covered by a mask and his left eye was covered by a metal plated forehead protector that was doubling as an eye patch.

"Kakashi!" Gai yelled across the room to his "Rival". "If you keep showing up late how will you ever be prepared!? This is a sign that my flames of youth will surpass you!"

Kakashi sat silently reading a little orange book for several seconds before turning to look lazily at Gai. "I'm sorry. Did you say something?" Kakashi asked. Gai clenched his fist and turned away in frustration, flames seeming to burn around him.

"if we could bring the discussion back on track..." Aoba said bringing the attention of the captains back to him. Gai and Kakashi nodded. "Since the formation of his pirate crew Monkey D. Luffy has made quite the splash in the East blue. Taking out several notable pirate gangs in Inter pirate fighting. However nothing he had accomplished thus far was worthy of concern, until now. According to the accounts of several witnesses in Logue Town "a red eyed pirate escaped his execution at the hands of Buggy the Clown."

The occupants of the room exchanged looks of consternation. Many of them looking towards Kakashi with something resembling distrust.

"The testimony of Captain Smoker confirms that the pirate was indeed Straw Hat Luffy. Furthermore Smoker confirmed that Monkey D. Luffy had Red eyes." Aoba continued.

"You don't think it could be..." One captain spoke up only to falter as if afraid to break some taboo.

"The Sharingan?" Kakashi asked

Aoba nodded. "That is the concern. Thus, His Bounty will be raised in order to better reflect his potential threat to the world government from it's initial 30 million belli bounty to 80 million belli. Further more..." Aoba turned to Kakashi. "Captain Hatake, you are to assemble a team to hunt down and verify the validity of the Sharingan and if at all possible apprehend Straw Hat Luffy."

"Understood." Kakashi said with a resigned sigh.

"This issue must be taken care of before we have another Madara on our hands." Aoba finished bringing the meeting a close.

-o0O0o-

Six figures stood within a vast chamber, the sound of water drops echoed off the walls. It was a cave, not the nicest of places but it was only one of their meeting places. Each figure wore distinctive cloaks, black with red clouds, and appeared as apparitions in a circle around a rather complicated mass of wires.

The sound of footsteps echoed off the walls as two new figures emerged from the darkness. "My apologies for being late, Leader." Itachi said taking his position in the circle. "But we encountered something interesting in the east blue."

"East blue?" One of the figures asked, his voice carrying not even a drop of respect. His tone of voice would make any elder spout off about ethics and respect. Of course this was Hidan, and he probably didn't care how he sounded. "You're shitting me Itachi, that back water shit whole?"

"Hidan." A tall man who was covering the majority of his face interrupted, his voice was muffled and bored sounding. "The bounties from that sea are small, hardly worth noticing. But I seem to remember a recently issued bounty that got my attention… eighty million belly I believe, Monkey D. Luffy." It was just like Kakuzu to be up to date on every bounty issued. Itachi would not be surprised if he could recite every bounty ever issued that exceeded ten million belly.

"This is irrelevant." A figure with ripple patterned eyes spoke. Their Leader, Pein. "were you able to complete you're mission?" Itachi shook his head

"That straw hat boy beat us to him… A pity too, he promised to have at least been an entertaining fight." Kisame said, the wrapped sword on his back seemed to speak up at this point though no one but Kisame could tell what it had said, it sounded disappointed.

"The important thing is that he is taken care of." A woman spoke up. The only woman among them, Konan. "Lucky you. Not having to go into deep cover."

"They would never have accepted me, I have a reputation with fishmen to be more… shark-like, than even they are comfortable with." Kisame chuckled. "I have no doubt I would have had to kill him regardless."

"You planned on doing so from the beginning." Itachi interjected. Kisame elbowed him lightly.

"Hey Hey! Itachi-Sempai! That interesting Thing! What was it?!" A very annoying voice came from the masked member. Tobi. "Itachi-Sempai~! Please tell me~!" he sounded like a child begging for a treat, but no, he was a grown man. Itachi was reminded of a certain meat loving captain, unlike with Luffy though, Itachi doubted he could dissuade Tobi.

"It was probably nothing." Hidan dismissed.

"I wouldn't be so sure." A man who looked like a walking flytrap said, voice like a monster. "We saw everything. Itachi was right. It was interesting…" A softer voice from the same figure explained. This person, if it even was a person, was Zetsu.

"And this was?" Leader asked

"It was the straw hat boy, wasn't it?" Kakuzu asked.

Itachi nodded. Kisame smiled. "He has a good crew, that swordsman of his might be interesting to fight… one day. But there was something else that was interesting…"

"The Sharingan." Itachi said.

"Seriously?!" Tobi yelled, flailing wildly as if the revelation had thrown him off balance.

"Yes, he is a pirate, looking to become the next pirate king." Kisame answered.

"One piece? For real?" Hidan asked.

"Yes. So Leader what would you have us do?" Itachi asked.

"He has a sizable bounty for someone who just started, perhaps we can take the eyes for ourselves." Kakuzu suggested.

"No. His goal is Raftel, We leave it to him to make it there." Their Leader interjected. "But it is time that our plans are put into motion. Tobi, you will go and inform Dedara and Sasori."

"Good" Kakuzu said. "Moria keeps all his kills for me to sew together, I haven't been able to hand in a decent bounty in too long"

"What of Luffy?" Konan asked "Are we not to interact with him?"

"Extend an invitation." Leader said. "See if he is not willing to join the Akatsuki."

-o0O0o-

"Luffy! Are you listening to me?"

Luffy shook himself from his very pleasant meat fantasy and looked down at his orange haired navigator from his special seat on the Going Mery's figure head. "Oh, hey Nami. Did you say something?"

"I said you need to be more careful! You showed everyone in the plaza your sharingan! What if the Navy recognize it!? They would come after us!" Nami berated.

"Then I'll beat them up." Luffy said simply.

"Luffy! This is serious!" Nami said angrily. She seemed really worried about this. Luffy had no doubt in his ability to keep his Nakama safe and was thus unconcerned. He wasn't even really sure why the Sharingan was a big deal, Nami had tried to explain it to him once but all Luffy took away from the talk was that the marines didn't like them. it was a mystery.

"Leave him be." the gruff voice of Luffy's first mate interjected before Nami could continue. Zoro himself walked up onto the deck, his green hair unmistakable."It was only a matter of time before it was discovered anyway."

"That doesn't make it alright!" Nami argued. "We aren't ready for this kind of attention!"

"Then we will just have to get stronger." Zoro said scratching absentmindedly at the scar across his chest.

"Don't worry Nami. We'll make sure you're alright." Luffy said with what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

Nami just huffed before walking off with her arms crossed. "Is Nami Onee-san Alright?" Their youngest and most recent crew member asked, a small girl in a yellow dress.

"Don't worry Apis, she's just worried about us." Luffy said smiling down at her. The girl had been all but forced to join there crew when the marines had placed a five million belli bounty on her head. Her bounty was met with mixed reactions, Nami and Sanji had been outraged that the marines would do such a thing while Usopp had tried to out do the girl with his outrageous stories. Luffy and Zoro had looked at the the bounty with pride, even going so far as to congratulate the girl.

Worried about her money more like." Zoro said with crossed arms. Luffy just laughed.

"Oi! Get your asses in gear!" Nami's voice called to them. "There is a storm on its way and we need to hit the mountain just right or we're toast!" None in the crew doubted Her words for a second, having faith in their navigator, regardless of how angry she may be. There faith was well founded, There were no navigators in the east blue or even the world that could compare to her skill in the eyes of the crew. The storm rolled in and they worked tirelessly to keep the ship on track. Even little Apis through her weight around helping in any way she could. Admittedly not a lot due to her size but no one told her to stay out of the way.

Luffy laughed joyously as they ascended the mystery mountain. Looking back as the clouds receded behind them and the spray from the turbulent waters turned to ice in the air. and then they crested the peek of the mountain, the water that carried the ship more like moving Ice than Water.

Luffy marveled at the view, unimpeded by anything. just blue sky and ocean for as far as he could see. tiny dots on the horizon every way he looked. His Sharingan blazing to life and memorizing every detail.

Then they descended, Rapidly. His crew screamed behind him as they held on for dear life. Luffy just Laughed and Hollered the whole way down. his Red captain's coat billowing and fluttering in the wild winds, one hand holding his treasured straw hat to his head.

Luffy saw it Long before the rest of his crew did. A great grey shape blocked their path. If nothing was done their ship would be reduced to splinters. Luffy had a great Idea for slowing them down. and he went below deck to execute it even as his crew screamed and struggled to bring the ship to a halt.

-END-

**This actually didn't take all that long to write. mostly because it was just tweaking a bunch of segments of chapters that were already written. The reason for the delay is that I forgot. things got busy and I started writing a little more for another story and in the end I just forgot that I had this written.**

**So now here it is.**

**So I will first address some of the comments last time. I overreacted somewhat when I got all of the suggestions for the re-edit of this story. many of which I did not agree with. I believe the term I used was "Fan-wank" for that I apologize. I understand the point of view of the commenters and have taken the comments into account. Luffy will be more observant but I never really counted him as being stupid so his intelligence will not change all that much. He has a unique sort of charm that I don't really want to mess with all that much, its just part of his character. but he will be more powerful. kinda. but it will be a strength he will grow into rather than just inherit. **

**So I read through the previous chapter and realized that the way some things were worded caused a bit of confusion. the scene on the execution platform was not when the sharingan awakened that was simply the first public sighting of them and therefore was their "Return to the sea." he awakened and used his sharingan much earlier.**

**and the fact that a fake Madara helped Vegapunk make the eyes that are currently in Tobi's head when when Tobi clearly couldn't have done so. This is from Vegapunks point of view and while the previous Madara was not Tobi it was an agent of the real Madara. who or what that agent was is something for another time.**

**So in this chapter we have edits of old segments (In fact that is mostly what it is). but something to take note of is that Apis is in fact in the crew. I didn't really want to write her arc so I just kinda put a summary in.**

**As for anything else...**

**I cant really think of anything important so I will leave it to the comments.**

**bye all.**


	3. Chapter 3

Apis waved goodbye to her newest friend. The giant Island Whale, Laboon. When they had first encountered him his voice was so sad, it had brought her to tears just from hearing it. It was sadder even than Ryuuji's voice when she had first heard him.

It was shocking when Laboon had swallowed them, but then again Luffy had been an idiot so maybe they deserved it.

Her crewmates had almost accused the Whale's doctor of trying to kill it from the inside but Apis stepped in and explained to them that Laboon's pain was not physical but emotional, he was lonely. Of course she didn't do it to defend Crocus, he was annoying with his "running Gags" and had succeeded in pissing off each and every one of the crew save Luffy before they had finally left. Still she had to admire him for doing so much for Laboon.

Apis looked to her captain and friend, Luffy, Grinning like a fool from his newly repaired seat. It was thanks to him that Laboon had regained his spirits, of course in doing so a lot more of the ship had to be "newly repaired" The once beautiful Going Meri was starting to look a little worn around the edges thanks to him. The whole damn mast! Who even does things like that?

Apis sighed. Right. Luffy did things like that.

After Luffy had lifted Laboon's spirits she had gotten the chance to actually sit down with the creature and become friends with it. He was fifty three and loved music. He had even taught her the tune and the words to Bink's Sake, when Laboon had actually started to sing it to the best of a whales ability Luffy and the others had joined in happily. He was waiting for his Nakama to return from their journey around the world and still had faith that they would do so, though now he was eagerly waiting for the day when Luffy would fulfill the same promise.

Apis smiled and waved wildly. "Laboon! Bye bye!" Laboon gave a happy call that shook the water a little bit.

They sailed on, the weather nice and sunny for many hours. She checked in with the seagulls that were circling overhead, trading with them for information about the weather in exchange for scraps of food she had convinced Sanji to let her give them. Sanji had allowed her to but told her not to spoil the birds.

A few of the birds were a lot craftier and Apis had found herself actually haggling with them. She had finally learned that the weather became more erratic in about ten nautical miles. She had told Nami this much to the Navigator's appreciation.

It was about midday when they finally got to the point the Birds had spoken of. They had not been lying, not that they had stuck around for her to scold if they had been. Snow. Apis had never been in the snow, it had just never happened on her island, not even up on the mountain. Apis borrowed one of Nami's coats since she had none of her own, it was a yellow and orange plaid coat, fuzzy and warm. It was way too big for her but she made do by rolling up the sleeves. She still thought it looked ridiculous on her but it was cold so she made do.

She walked by Zoro and gave him a confused look. How could he be sleeping so soundly when he was covered in snow?

Usopp and Luffy got into a snow ball fight. Apis had heard of these, they were supposed to be really fun, it looked like it too.

Apis gathered a large scoop of snow into her hands and hurled it at Usopp. It nailed him in the head. Apis gripped her hands. "THAT'S COLD!" her hands were really cold. Apis was hit with a snowball from Usopp.

"You let your guard down." he said before getting bowled over by a massive ball of snow from Luffy.

Apis forgot how cold her hands were for the moment in favour of throwing more snowballs, it took no time at all for the situation to devolve into a full on snow war. Usopp had very good aim and was hard to avoid, but Luffy dominated through the sheer volume of his attacks. Apis opted instead to implement guerilla tactics, since she was small she was able to hide from Usopp and take cover from Luffy's large attacks.

She was having a very good time, it felt good, to be playing like this with her friends. Snow was fun! And really damn cold!

Apis ran inside and put her hands under the tap, warm water poured over her freezing hands. She sighed in relief as feeling slowly came back to her frozen digits. She should have worn mittens or something.

Apis was distracted from her task by a loud scream. Nami rushed out of the cabin. Apis was concerned; Nami was the only one on the crew that had her head on straight if she was the one yelling it usually meant something bad was going to or has been happening.

"Everyone! Turn the ship around 180 degrees!" she ordered. Apis was surprised. Why would they do that?

"Why" Usopp asked.

"Did you forget something?" Luffy looked up blankly with a large pile of snow on his Gunbai, he had been using it to catapult mountains of snow at everyone.

"No!" Nami said frustrated. "We got turned around by the current!" Nami said frantically.

Their two "guests" that Apis really didn't like decided it would be a good idea to make fun of Nami. Nami had none of that and Apis silently cheered when Nami had literally kicked them out of the door.

Apis scrambled out as well to help the crew, she wouldn't pass p this chance just because she was smaller than everyone else.

No sooner had she set foot on the deck had the clouds dispersed revealing the sun and melting the snow quickly.

Apis joined Luffy in adjusting the sails as they turned about, correcting their course. Luffy looked out into the distance with a broad smile. "Hey Nami! There are dolphins over there!" Luffy pointed, Apis noticed their thoughts before she actually saw them. "Let's go over there!"

"Oi Shut up!" Nami snapped.

"Wait Nami!" Apis interjected. "We better follow them, the dolphins say there is an iceberg in our way!" Apis called.

Nami Nodded and gave the orders scrambling the crew into action once more. They watched as the iceberg drifted by not five minutes later only a couple hundred meters from the Meri. Nami gave Apis a thumbs up.

"Oy we have a fog rolling in!" Sanji called.

"No way!" Nami cried.

The fog dispersed and was replaced with a storm, a large one from the looks of it. Apis didn't need any animals nearby to tell her it would be a bad one.

The wind was violent and everyone struggled against it. Nami was having difficulty pulling in the strained and tearing sails and Usopp was overworked patching the leaks that kept springing up below deck.

Sanji made a plate of onigiri for the crew. Apis quickly ate one before running off to help Nami who was still struggling with the sails.

They battled the storm for what felt like hours. It had even hailed at one point. It was almost like the ocean was throwing everything it could at them.

It was finally over however. Apis fell to the deck relieved that it was over. She wasn't the only one either as the rest of the crew fell to the deck right beside her.

It was at THIS point that Zoro decided to wake up. Apis saw Nami slowly and deliberately walking towards the unaware Zoro. Apis had no sympathy for the man, he deserved whatever Nami did to him and Apis was going to enjoy whatever punishment it was. She wasn't even remotely vindictive by nature but Zoro had it coming, especially after that storm.

-o0O0o-

Zoro looked at his Nakama. They had fallen asleep long ago, swept up in the party atmosphere and succumbing to the fatigue from their earlier trials. Apis had been more than vehement about letting Zoro know what they had gone through. She had been the first one to fall asleep, being a child she hardly had enough stamina to stay up as late as the others.

Zoro himself had pretended to pass out, finding their welcome far too suspicious for his liking. He knew Nami was faking as well, she had out drank both him and Kisame when they had faced her previously, there was no way she had gone down after twenty measly tankards of that weak booze. He didn't think too much on her reasoning, she would go about whatever business she had on her own, it hardly concerned him.

Zoro quietly left the room making his way up onto the roof where he saw Igrapoi talking to the two people they had given a ride to earlier and a very muscular woman with pink hair. "I did some digging on them and found this." Igrapoi pulled out two very familiar posters.

"Fifty million belly!? Them?" the three others shouted. They were rightfully shocked, Zoro was ashamed to admit that they had made fools of themselves during the party, whether they were faking it or not, especially Luffy. If he had never seen Luffy fight before Zoro wouldn't have believed it either. "And that little girl? She already has a bounty?"

Igrapoi tuned to the muscular woman. "It is not wise to judge a pirates abilities by their appearance alone. Ms. Mo- cough. Mah mah maaaah~! Ms. Monday."

"Your right. It is very unwise. "Zoro said getting their attention. "Sorry to interrupt, but would you mind letting them sleep, they had a rough day." The group were extremely surprised to see him, Zoro grinned a bit he like the looks of shock on their faces.

A door opened beneath him. "Miss Monday, Mr. Eight, The one with the belly warmer is missing.

"I know." Mr. Eight, the once name Igrapoi said, said.

"He's up there." Ms. Wednesday said.

"You bastard. You should be completely knocked out!" Mr. Eight accused.

"A true swordsman would never fall to something as petty as drink." Zoro said. Zoro watched as the whole town came out, every one brandishing weapons. "I see what this is, a bounty hunter nest. You lure unsuspecting pirates in with the promise of a good time and capture them." Zoro looked over the crowd. "Oh? Is this the whole town? There must be a hundred of you." Zoro gave a predatory grin. "I'll take you all on, Baroque Works."

"H-How do you know that name?" Mr. Eight asked. He like all the others was shocked to hear Zoro say their name.

"Back when I was still in this line of work, one of your people came to scout me. Of course I said no." Zoro said. "The members only know each other by code names and no one even knows where or who the boss is. An organization that carries out its orders as faithfully as a dog. Of course I wouldn't want to join."

"Mah mah Maaah!~Well since you know so much about us we have no choice but to eliminate you. We will be adding another name to the cactus rocks tonight!" Mr. eight gave the command. "Killl him!"

Zoro had a great respect for Luffy and his abilities, especially his strength but he recognized above all other things a genius in the boy. Luffy had been nonchalant about it, not seeing how it was so hard but copying something that you see is difficult. It is beyond difficult, even with Luffy's unnatural vision his ability to transcend years of training in an instant was frightening. Luffy was a genius of combat.

It had taken Zoro a bit of practice and a lot of time watching Luffy do it but he had eventually gotten the stealth foot technique down, The very same technique Luffy had stolen from the black cat captain. He was not as fast as Luffy but it was enough to throw this crowed of weaklings for a loop.

"He-he disappeared?" Ms. Wednesday said in shock.

The Baroque Works agents looked around frantically. Zoro was finding it hard not to laugh especially when they finally spotted him, right in the middle of their number.

Their faces were priceless and Zoro couldn't help but smile. "Did you find him?" He asked.

"Bastard!" They leveled their gun at him and fired. Zoro pulled another disappearing act causing them all to shoot each other. Honestly they were way too overzealous, this kind of shoddy teamwork and practically non-existent skill would get them killed. Well Zoro supposed that it was already doing that.

"Find hi-" Mr. Eight was cut off by a sword blade right next to his face. Zoro had gotten behind him. Zoro was enjoying himself. The intimidation he was able to dish out was nice, he would fully admit to being a sadist if anyone were to ask him now. The thrill of the fight was a powerful thing, though zoro was only toying with them.

Zoro thought that the agents would shoot Mr. Eight but was surprised when Mr. Eight gunned them down with his saxophone. It nearly got him but he was able to dodge and hide himself behind a building.

Zoro drew yubashiri. It was about time he let his new boys loose, gave them a try. He quickly had to dodge some bullets by jumping inside a building. Turning on a dime he moved swiftly through the attacking bounty hunters, cutting them down with little effort. The blade was light, easily moving in smooth arcs. It was perfectly balanced and responded to even his subtle movements well.

Running through the streets he amassed a pretty good number of pursuers. Climbing up a ladder he had to quickly duck as one of the bounty hunters shot a cannon at him. The muscle bound woman from before threw a barrel of wine at him, the smooth movements of Yubashiri made slicing the cask into four pieces easy, as Zoro appreciated the fact that the sword was not only light but incredibly durable.

The durability proved enough to cut cleanly through a large stone hammer that would have taken off his head. Taking the opportunity he drew the Sandai Kitetsu. Zoro unleashed the sword and was surprised as the blade seemed to almost pull his arm forward cutting deeply into his aponent, deeper than was necessary, it nearly cut the man all the way through.

Zoro scolded the sword. This blade was going to be something of a trouble maker, but that is what he got for getting a cursed sword. Not that he minded, he would rein the sword in, it was the swordsman that controlled the sword not the other way around.

Zoro jumped from building to building as the bounty hunters swarmed below him, his following had grown as more bounty hunters came out to confront him.

Jumping towards a group of bounty hunters Zoro held both his blade out landing before the group. "Nitouryuu Takagami!" Zoro pivoted striking the whole group down with his blades.

The feeling of Kitetsu in his hand was like holding a beast it seemed to vibrate slightly as if in excitement. To zoro's ears it sounded as if the blade was purring or laughing. It cut through everything like butter and seemed to be more than willing to do so when Zoro allowed it. the blade reacted quickly in his hands, Zoro was sure that his reaction speed was actually faster when holding the blade making it ideal for fast and vicious if not necessarily precise counter attacks.

Zoro saw a group of Bounty hunters descending from above. His blades were more than sharp enough to cut through the cement roof. Upon landing the group of bounty hunters fell right through, it was such a simple trap, but apparently it works even if it is set up right in front of them.

Zoro sighed. He had thought that there would at least be one challenging opponent, Mr. Eight seemed like a likely place to start but the overall skill of the people he once shared a job with was abysmal. He was almost ashamed to have considered himself one even if he had only done it to pay for meals.

Just as he was thinking this he saw a shadow behind him. Out of pure reflex he ducked as the muscle bound woman from before swung a fifteen foot long ladder at him.

The woman grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air with ease. Zoro was uncomfortable, her hands were huge. "Don't get cocky." She said in a strangely high pitched voice, it made Zoro even more uncomfortable. "No man can defeat me with strength alone." Slamming Zoro on the ground she lifted a fist with brass knuckles into the air. "Superhuman Strength Fist!" Zoro felt the brass knuckles hit him in the face. They were cold and hard and he was sure they would have shattered a normal man's skull with the amount of force the woman had put behind them. He heard the ground crack beneath him.

Zoro grinned. He wasn't a normal man.

Zoro's hand shot forward grabbing Ms. Monday's face. His grip was like a vice getting tighter and tighter. Zoro stood up easily not struggling at all as the woman tried to simultaneously hold him down and free her head. "What's wrong?" Zoro asked as he felt a few of the bones in the woman's face crack under his grip. "Didn't you want a contest of strength?" there was one final crack and the woman fell backwards. He hadn't killed her but he had at least fractured her skull in several places.

Despite the woman's strength it was not enough to convince Zoro that Baroque works were to be taken seriously. They were a joke.

Zoro looked down at Mr. Eight, Mr. Nine, and Ms. Wednesday. They were all that remained. The rest had been cut down with ease. Zoro was surprised he was sure not even a half hour had passed since the fight had begun.

Mr. Nine was first moving to strike him with his bats. He did a bunch of flipping and cartwheels and stuff but Zoro just saw this as an ineffective way to fight as all he ended up doing in the end anyway was swinging his bat at him like a normal person.

Zoro easily blocked the bats, he was slightly surprised at how heavy they were but it was of little importance. Zoro used the stealth foot again bringing the pommel of his sword into Mr. Nines gut and sending him tumbling over the edge of the building. It was over too fast for Zoro to have given much thought.

"Oh Mr. Bushido!" Zoro heard a feminine voice call to him. "Come enjoy the fragrance of my perfume." Zoro watched as the woman. Ms. Wednesday started to sway her hips. "Alluring perfume dance!" Zoro watched on. He was unable to look away.

The sway of her shapely hips , her slender figure, her prominent breasts. Zoro had to admit she was certainly alluring.

Damn it! He was not about to act like that Pervy cook, he was a swordsman and a swordsman didn't succumb to a woman's charms so easily.

The smell of the perfume hit his nose and the pattern on her top was making him feel dizzy, sick even.

The woman charged at him on her Duck thing with a furiously spinning blade on a string. Zoro couldn't move to avoid the attack. Whatever that woman had done had messed up his equilibrium, he had lost his sense of balance.

He needn't have worried however as the woman charged right passed him and over the edge like her partner had done. Zoro got up and sighed. Fighting these people was getting embarrassing.

He heard the sound of a sax behind him. He jumped down the hole he had made previously in order to avoid the attack. Zoro sighed he was going to have to tidy this up.

Stepping out he faced Mr. Nine, who had freed himself from the wreckage of the stall he had fallen on.

Zoro readied himself to end the fight. For, as he had said…

…it was getting embarrassing.

-o0O0o-

Vivi pulled the happy go lucky boy into the alleyway. He was heavy. Even with her trusted friend Carue helping her, the boy was heavy. Not only had he eaten enough food to tire out three chefs, his stomach had become too large to be contained by the boy's red coat, but he also had a massive war fan on his back. At first she thought it was made of wood but to her surprise it had been made from solid metal and probably weighed more than she did. She had tried to remove the weapon but found that it was securely tied to his arm by a very long chain.

She hefted the boy up into a position that was as close to sitting as the very round teen could get. Pulling a knife out from a bag on Carue's back she pointed it at the boys neck and faced the scene she had walked in on.

Mr. Eight, her long-time friend and guardian Igaram, looked down upon Mr. Nine. "So you've captured him." He said with a note of approval. Vivi hoped they wouldn't have to do this for much longer, she already had far too much blood on her hands than she would have liked just to keep her cover.

"No more running away! Kill him Mr. Eight!" Mr. Nine said. Vivi hoped that the swordsman could forgive her.

Vivi steeled her resolve. "Right don't move, Mr. Bushido. Or your friend here will die."

Zoro analyzed the situation and seemed to look at his unconscious crew member with concern and not just a little bit of annoyance.

"IGARAPPAPA!" Igaram yelled firing the guns he kept hidden in his hair.

Zoro Pulled Mr. Nine off his feet. Vivi was amazed at his strength, true he had been able to take down Ms. Monday but the ease with which he was able to throw Mr. Nine through the air was astounding.

Mr. Nine took the shot meant for the swordsman knocking him unconscious. With another mighty heave Zoro sent Mr. Nine towards her. Vivi panicked gripping the nife and bringing it closer to the sleeping boy's throat. She hesitated though as it would be the most personal kill she would ever make, the boy would die in her arms, he would probably wake up before he died, and Vivi was unsure if she could look him in the eyes.

She got no more time to make up her mind and the body of Mr. Nine crashed into her and Carue bringing them both down to the ground.

Vivi sat under Mr. Nine unable to move, thankfully they had not landed in a compromising position or else Vivi would never be able to live it down, even if no one was awake to witness it.

She watched through her hazy vision as Zoro seemed to disappear and reappeared quickly behind Igaram. She was afraid when she saw Igaram fall to the ground that he had died. He landed in front of her a ways and she was glad to note that he was still breathing.

The three of them shakily sat up as feeling returned to their beaten bodies, Igaram was having the most trouble with the task having actually taken a direct hit from the swordsman.

"How pathetic can you get? hm." A voice called out. Vivi looked up to see a tall man with long blond hair that covered one of his eyes. He stood in the middle of the road, the signature cloak him and his partner were known to wear draped around him.

"Mr. Five!" Igaram yelled in surprise. Mr. five, he had only gotten the position in their ranks by killing the previous Mr. Five, personally Vivi thought he was far too strong for the number five position but he had refused to step higher into the ranks despite the offer.

"Where is your partner?" Mr. Nine asked. Numbered agents never left their partners.

"Hm? Oh Mr. Halloween? I told him I could handle this on my own and left him to play with his dolls." Mr. Five seemed to laugh to himself at the mention of his partner's code name. Being the only same sex pair in the organization they tended to have many disagreements, usually about art for some reason.

"Well all it would take is you to take out this swordsman anyway." Mr. Nine said, hope in his eyes.

"You must be joking. Hm. I didn't get sent all the way to this side of the grand line just to clean up your mess." Mr. five said placing a hand underneath his cloak. "Whatever. After I finish my mission I guess I can see what the deal is with this swordsman of yours."

"What is your mission? If you didn't come here to kill the swordsman, all you have done so far is laugh at us." Igaram said glaring at the man before him.

"Calm down. Hm. I'm laughing because I think it's funny. Mr. Five shrugged. "As for my mission. The head ass whole himself said I had to come out here and kill some spy. Said something about someone knowing who he was, some bullshit about baroque works being about secrecy. Blah blah blah."

Vivi froze.

Spies.

There were only two spies in the organization as far as she knew. That Mr. Five was here to kill them was not good.

She couldn't let her mission end here, not like this. But this was Mr. Five. Even if he didn't have the position of highest ranking agent it was well believed that he alone was powerful enough to fill the spot. She had no chance of escaping, even if she had not been thrown around like a rag doll earlier she wouldn't have been able to escape.

"Imagine my surprise. Hm. A person of royal blood infiltrating the organization." Mr. five said pulling out a photograph and looking at it, he seemed to be appreciating what he saw.

"Wait a minute! I may wear a crown but I am not actually a king!" Mr. Nine said frantically.

"Hm? Of course you aren't. I'm not talking about you. The infiltrator is none other than the missing noble from Alabasta." Mr. five turned the photo around. "One Nefertari Vivi."

Vivi's eyes grew wide in shock and fear.

She had been discovered. And no matter what she did, the man before her was to strong to be defeated. She would die tonight.

But she would still take her chances running. She needed to take the chance at least.

-END-

**So I wrote and rewrote the chapter a few times before deciding to just scrap it all together. I am finding it difficult to write these not because I don't have Ideas but because my mind is still at the stage of the story after they defeat Crocodile. I have been itching to get to that point and I think for the interest of time I will simply edit the chapters I had written for the previous iteration of this story. I have so many Ideas so I hope you can forgive me if I skip over tediously rewriting things that have already happened.**

**So I should have one out every few days at the latest. they won't be exactly the same as I will be changing some things I din't really like but once that is all out of the way I should be doing more regular updates. its hard writing when you have a whole head full of other ideas.**


	4. Chapter 4

Running.

That was all that could be done. run until she died or escaped.

Vivi heard Carue breathing hard beneath her; he was running faster than she had ever seen him before.

She dared not look back to see if he was following her.

He had taken out Mr. Eight and Mr. Nine easily. To Vivi it appeared as if he had not even done anything. Mr. eight simply exploded when he fired his guns and Mr. 9 had followed shortly after when the ground beneath his feet had exploded.

Vivi would honour their sacrifice, she would escape. She only wished that her younger brother was here, admittedly her adopted brother but they were close all the same. Her younger brother would have been able to protect her from Mr. Five she was sure, no one was stronger in all of Arabasta.

She turned a corner and was jolted back to reality at the sight of Mr. Five standing upon a massive white bird blocking her path.

"Come on princess you're making this harder than it really has to be, if you don't come quietly I'll just blow the entire island to pieces." Mr. five said as a white object of some sort seemed to come out of his palms. Vivi didn't wait to find out what the thing was for before she turned Carue about and sped off down the road once more.

She made it most of the way down the road when the sound of furiously flapping wings reached her ears. Looking to the source she was horrified to find a white bird with four wings was speedily gaining on her, it was almost right next to her by this point. Thinking quickly Vivi turned down the first alley way that she could. The bird attempted to do the same only to crash into the building; the resulting explosion completely leveled the building. Vivi was only lucky to have gotten through the ally before it had gone off.

Vivi looked ahead and saw the narrow pass that she would have to go through in order to get to her ship she pulled Carue to a stop however when a large and muscled figure stepped into her path.

"Ms. Monday!" Vivi said in shock. Vivi thought she had died but apparently Ms. Monday was tougher than even Vivi had given her credit for.

"Go." Ms. Monday said. "Once you get passed here you can get on the ship. I'll hold him off."

"But-" Vivi began with concern in her voice.

"What are you waiting for?! If he catches you Mr. Eight's and Mr. Nine's sacrifice will have been in vane" Ms. Monday said taking a step forward.

Vivi took her advice and made her way towards the pass. She turned around at the sound of flapping wings this time they sounded much louder, from a creature much larger than the last one. Her assumption was correct as Mr. five came into view riding on the back of his white bird. He was flying fairly low to the ground.

Ms. Monday hurled the log she had up at Mr. Five, Vivi was hopeful for a moment as it looked like Ms. Monday might have actually taken Mr. Five off guard.

It was only for a moment though as the bird he rode atop almost lazily drifted to the side of the projectile. Mr. Five himself didn't even look at Ms. Monday as he threw a spherical white object over his shoulder as he passed overhead.

The object didn't even land before exploding leaving nothing but smoking ruin behind.

"Well princess this has been boring." Mr. Five said opening his other hand revealing a small white figurine, a sleek bird with four wings, with a puff of smoke it was suddenly the size of an eagle. "Let's just wrap this up. You should appreciate dying in such an artistic way…" The bird launched itself from his hand and made its way toward her at incredible speed.

"Because true art is…" the bird was almost upon her.

"AN EXPLOSION!"

Vivi didn't know what happened, first it seemed that she would die, the bird shaped missile taking her out in a ball fire. But it never hit, instead it had destroyed everything in a line to either side of her including her only hope of escape. A figure stood between her and Mr. Five. Vivi recognized him immediately.

"Mr. Bushido!" Vivi remembered how easily the man had cut down every one in the town, the power and ruthlessness he had displayed. "You… So persistent at a time like this!" Vivi took out one of her weaponized jewels and spun it towards his head.

The swordsman severed the cord with a nonchalant flick of his sword before bringing the tip of his katana near her throat. "Don't jump to conclusions." He said as he removed the blade. "I came here to save you."

Vivi stared at the man in disbelief. The man who not even an hour ago had seemingly dedicated himself to the task of killing everyone. "Save me?"

"Hm? Didn't you just cut everyone in this town up?" Mr. five asked from atop his bird as it landed in the middle of the road. "You must not be able to make up your mind if you turn around to help your enemy so suddenly."

"That cloak…" The swordsman murmured just loud enough for Vivi to hear. "I'm not doing it because I want to." The swordsman said loudly so Mr. Five could hear. "I owe someone a debt. That is all."

"Oh? Did the princess save your life or something? Hm? Repaying the honour? Hm?" Mr. Five asked.

"No. my crew mate is making me do this…" the swordsman said, he looked really embarrassed for some reason. "…I owe her some money…"

Mr. Five started laughing. "Seriously?"

"She's a witch." The swordsman said. He seemed to get angry as Mr. Five's laughter got louder at his declaration. "Anyway! Stop laughing you mad bomber!"

"Mad bomber?" Mr. Five asked his laughter stopping completely. "I will have you know that there is nothing more beautiful than that moment of sublimation! It truly is a piece of art. True are is an explosion!"

"You even sound like a mad bomber." The swordsman said. "They just look like explosions to me."

Mr. Hive was silent for a moment before he slowly placed his hands into the pouches at his hips. He started to speak, he sounded angry "Is. That. So. Well than, I'll just have to make you experience it." he removed his hands from the pounces. "When this is over you'll see. True art…" Mr. Five threw what looked like a swarm of small white balls at the swordsman. "IS AN EXPLOSION!"

The swordsman drew all three of his swords and adjusted his stance. "**Santoryu Tatsu Maki!**" He brought his blades around in a circle creating a powerful twister that sent the small explosives into the sky where they exploded harmlessly. Or somewhat harmlessly anyway.

The wind and heat from their two attacks sent Carue and Vivi tumbling painfully across the ground. Vivi looked up to see Mr. Five and the swordsman in the midst of a standoff.

"Not bad, swordsman." Mr. Five said placing his hands into his pockets once more.

"Not good enough. Mad bomber." The swordsman shot back.

Before either could make a move a voice, a very angry voice cut through the moment, drawing everyone's attention to the end of the road. "ZOOOROOOO! I FOUND YOU!"

The Happy go lucky boy that they had thought was the captain before facing the swordsman, now named Zoro, stood at the end of the road. The stomach the boy had sported shortly before was gone, his Coat buttoned up, the way it was worn reminded Vivi of the way Mr. Five wore his cloak. The massive and heavy Gunbai the boy carried on his back was now held in his hand surprising Vivi greatly with the ease he held it, with a single hand at that. The straw hat sat atop the boy's head the way it had in the picture on the wanted poster. Unlike on the wanted poster the boy was not smiling, he looked angry, he looked scary. And the biggest difference between the picture of the boy and the monster that stood before her now…

…she could see his eyes.

Red, the color of blood, of hate and rage. Eyes that did not belong on the cheerful boy that had enjoyed their party, these eyes belonged to a monster. They were eyes that could only belong to the devil.

Vivi could hardly breath, she didn't realize how desperately her need for air was until she had succeeded in averting her gaze and taking a deep gulping breath of air. They might have been wrong about Zoro. After seeing Monkey D. Luffy in person, Zoro could not possibly be the captain. They had been wrong.

"ZORO, YOU BASTARD!" Luffy yelled. "YOU WON"T GET AWAY WITH THIS. I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!"

"WHAT?!" Zoro yelled back in confusion. "What are you talking about!?"

"I ASKED ONE OF THE GUYS IN TOWN. YOU CUT THEM UP. AFTER THAY THREW US A PARTY. UNGRATEFULL BASTARD!" Luffy yelled back

"Oy. This guy for real?" Mr. Five asked in bewilderment.

"True I did do that…" Zoro admitted scratching his cheek sheepishly. "But I had a good reason. They were bounty hunters, Luffy. They were going to capture us."

"LIAR! ENEMIES DON"T GIVE YOU FOOD!" Luffy yelled.

"Is he a complete idiot?" Vivi asked in disbelief. She was starting to find it hard to believe he was the captain again.

"Luffy look at it this way. How do you catch fish?" Zoro attempted to reason with his irate crewmate/possibly captain.

"I don't want to hear it!" Luffy yelled suddenly disappearing from view like Zoro had done before, Mr. Five was knocked over by something and Luffy appeared in front of Zoro his War fan sliced through the air before impacting the ground hard enough to send spider web cracks out across the road. Zoro had been fortunate enough to dodge.

"Luffy Listen to me!" Zoro said. Luffy didn't answer with words as he brought his fan around sending a powerful gust of wind that blew Zoro away down the road. He landed on top of Mr. Five who was picking himself up off the ground, the impact carried both of them through a building at the far end of the street. Mr. Five seemed to be getting angrier as their confrontation continued. Zoro immerged from the wreckage first

"Luffy." Zoro started once more. "You put food on a hook right? When you fish."

"Yeah. What of it?" Luffy asked seemingly holding himself back from charging Zoro

"You are the fish." Zoro said. "They were the fishermen. Get it?"

Luffy stood still for a time as if thinking it thought. "I don't believe you." Luffy said simply before disappearing again. Zoro had only just enough time to duck under a swing that would have taken his head off. Zoro grunted as he drew his three swords once more.

"Fine since you won't listen to reason…" Luffy and Zoro charged one another seemingly ready to clash when a sudden explosion destroyed the space between the two and sent the both of them flying to opposite ends of the road.

"You…" Mr. Five said his eyes shadowed and an incredibly angry and menacing look on his face. "You don't Appreciate my art do you?"

"This again?" Zoro said just loud enough for Vivi to hear

"I don't CARE!" Luffy yelled. "Stay out of this!"

Mr. five Grew angrier at Luffy's declaration. "Unacceptable! I'll show you! ART IS AN EXPLOSION!" He yelled throwing fist sized birds at the two pirates. Both reacted by disabling the birds. Zoro cutting his to pieces and Luffy swatting it away with his fan. The damaged missiles exploded behind the two as they charged Mr. Five

Mr. Five didn't make any move to avoid the oncoming attacks, simply standing there and moving as if to quickly grab more white stuff from his pouches.

"**STAY OUT OF THIS!**" Both Luffy and Zoro said cutting Mr. Five into three pieces. Vivi was amazed at the two of them, taking out such a strong member of Baroque Works so easily.

He surprise did not last long.

Mr. Five's corpse turned white. It showed for only a split second before the area was shaken by a massive explosion. Smoke obscured the area and Vivi coughed as the ash laden air was even blown towards her.

It took a short minute for the dust to settle to reveal a smoking crater where the street used to be, the buildings all around were little more than piles of rubble and charred sticks. Vivi gasped at the sight. The two that had been fighting had been right in the middle of it; there was no way they had survived.

Vivi looked up and say Mr. Five standing atop his white bird smirking at the destruction. "Not bad…" Mr. Five said. "Protecting yourselves from the blast like that."

Two piles of rubble were pushed to the side as Luffy and Zoro stepped into view. Their clothes were slightly singed and they had blood dripping from their mouths, the shockwave must have wreaked havoc on their insides. "Oy Luffy…" Zoro began. "Let's take care of this guy, we'll finish this later."

Luffy gave Zoro a glare before nodding. "Right. I'll kick your ass later."

The two of them looked up towards the sky at Mr. Five. "How about this?" Mr. Five said as he opened both his hands and let two amorphous globs of white clay fall from his… Mouths? Vivi shuddered at the sight, they were creepy. The globs landed on the ground below, long strings of White material kept them linked to Mr. Five's hand/mouths. They stood up revealing them to be vaguely humanoid in shape and moving erratically. "These shall be your opponents."

"Don't take us lightly!" Zoro yelled running forward und cutting both figures in half. Zoro seemed proud of the accomplishment. Until he saw that where once there had been two there were now four. Luffy Rushed forward cutting the group in half again with a single sweep of his, quite frankly, oversized war fan. Vivi watched as the thread of white matter split and reattached itself to the severed pieces. Four became eight. Zoro and Luffy continued on the defensive as the white figures leapt and multiplied around them.

Seeing that cutting them was getting them nowhere, Luffy and Zoro both unleashed powerful wind attacks. "**MIGHTY GALE!**" "**TATSU MAKI!**"

The combined techniques created a tornado strong enough to lift the rubble from the ground and send it all into the sky; it carried the white figures off as well.

Vivi watched as Mr. five swerved to avoid the flying debris.

Luffy and Zoro did much the same as the debris and white figures came back down to earth. New explosions wracked the town wherever the figures landed, reducing more of the town into an empty lot. Zoro and Luffy had to continue to jump out of the figures' way as they seemed to continue honing in on them even while falling.

Even when the rain of explosions stopped, Luffy and Zoro got no reprieve. Fast moving birds flew at the two of them Forcing Them to jump away and avoid the explosions. Viv could already see what was happening. Mr. Five was separating them, that last combined attack was powerful and Mr. Five evidently didn't want to have to deal with it again.

Zoro cut a bird in half and leapt away from the resulting explosion, Landing safely atop a small mound of rubble. Apparently he was not so safe. The rubble beneath him exploded engulfing him in smoke and flames.

"ZORO!" Luffy yelled worried.

A cough was heard from the smoke as Zoro staggered out now with his clothes in tatters and blood practically flowing like a fountain from several serious wounds across his body. "Idiot, what are you getting so worried for? We are supposed to be fighting aren't we?" Zoro said standing up straighter on shaky legs.

"Of course!" Luffy yelled back. "Only I am allowed to kick your ass." Luffy said, it didn't sound like an excuse, Vivi was sure that it was the actual reason.

"Oy Luffy. Doesn't that cloak look familiar?" Zoro asked nodding towards Mr. Five.

-o0O0o-

(2 weeks earlier outside the newly destroyed Arlong park)

"Come on everyone we can't just celebrate all by ourselves let's get the news to the rest of the island."

Everyone cheered and turned to leave but stopped dead in their tracks at the figure that stood in the road. "Arlong park is a wreck, people are celebrating… this is a nice atmosphere isn't It?" the figure said. It was a fishman, a shark fishman like Arlong with gill like markings on his face though he didn't have the nose. He wore a black cloak with red clouds and carried a massive sword.

"Damn fishman what are you doing here?" One of the villagers asked taking a wary step away from the man.

"Me?" the fishman asked in a voice that sounded slightly patronizing. 'I'm here for Arlong. You wouldn't happen to know where he is would you? Though I suppose he was defeated."

"What did you want with him." Nami said getting into a fighting stance, she didn't recognize this fishman at all.

"I came for his head. Though it looks like I am too late." The fishman said earning shocked looks from the villagers. "With the bounty uncollectable I suppose I will have to find some way of getting compensation." The fishman grinned.

"Kisame. Stop terrorizing them." Another figure came into view, wearing the same get up as the other stranger, now named Kisame, though he was human. "I apologize for my partner's behavior, he can be difficult at times."

"Mah… Itachi-san, it isn't nice to speak ill of others." The fishman responded

"Hrm." Itachi said before turning to Luffy. "You were at the sea restaurant… the one with the Sharingan."

"There's that word again." Luffy said. "I don't know what that is."

Itachi looked at Luffy for a time before smiling slightly. "Kisame, we have failed our mission, what say we join these people for a celebration?"

Kisame smiled which put a few people on edge. "I have not had any sake in a long time, It would be good to dip into a bottle or two."

The townspeople were ready to say no but Luffy just smiled broadly. "Alright! Let's Party!"

Luffy and his crew easily fell back into their cheerful attitude putting the villagers at ease. The mood built itself back up to its celebratory atmosphere and the villagers ran off down the road cheering.

-o0O0o-

(back to the present)

"Yeah. It looks like Itachi's" Luffy nodded, it was a wonder he had not noticed before. they had no more time to discuss the revelation as yet more of the homing birds came at them.

The birds swiftly made their way towards their targets. Luffy and Zoro both leaped out of the way of the explosions. Zoro landed safely this time; Luffy however was caught in an explosion. He got out of it in better shape than Zoro did though as he had apparently partially protected himself by using his gunbai as a shield. The smoke had blocked his vision long enough however for one of the guided explosives to detonate right next to him enveloping Luffy in a cloud of smoke

"Hm. That is what you get for disregarding my art!" Mr. Five said sending more explosives down upon Zoro. Zoro cut the two birds down before moving to land on an empty patch of earth, no rubble anywhere near him. Vivi now understood, when the debris Luffy and Zoro had kicked up had fallen back to earth Mr. Five had hidden his explosives among it to be buried, making the mines that were tearing the two pirates apart.

The smoke that marked Luffy's place on the field was suddenly blown away to reveal the boy himself standing with his Gunbai extended outward, having just used it to clear the smoke. His coat was looking ragged and he looked much the same as Zoro, with blood flowing from wounds that covered his body.

"ZORO!" Luffy yelled bringing his Gunbai back and grabbing it with both hands. Vivi was ready to face palm, that idiot was going to start fighting again? Zoro charged toward Luffy. She was surprised when instead of attacking each other as she had originally though Zoro jumped onto Luffy's weapon allowing the boy to throw him into the sky towards Mr. Five.

Zoro twirled the swords in his hand and seemed to bring the one in his mouth back in preparation to cut. "**Santoryu Ogi! Sanzen Sekai!" **Zoro cried as he came upon Mr. Five.

Mr. Five managed to swerve to the side just in time, only getting one of his bird's wings and a good portion if its head taken off. Mr. Five had his hands in his pouches in preparation to make another figure.

He never saw Luffy coming.

"**METEOR IMPACT!"** Luffy brought the Gunbai down in a downward swing that sent Mr. Five crashing to the ground. A massive cloud of dust was kicked up from the impact.

Luffy and Zoro landed on a nearby building. "Now that that is over…" Zoro said turning towards Luffy

"Right." Luffy said turning to face Zoro.

"**C2 DRAGON!**" Vivi heard Mr. Five call the dust was swept away as a massive white dragon took flight, Mr. Five himself looked only slightly better than the two pirates, blood trickled from his head and his cloak was looking ragged and dirty. he reached other and yanked on his arm sharply, a loud pop was heard. Mr. Five growled.

The dragon's mouth opened releasing a swarm of small VERY fast moving projectiles.

Luffy and Zoro jumped away but found that not only were they fast but they followed after them. Luffy and Zoro cut down any that got too close causing them to explode and destroy more of the surroundings. Mr. Five didn't leave it at that though as his dragon opened its mouth once more and released another swarm after them.

The two pirates continued to evade the projectiles until they found themselves in the rubble piles. It was unfortunate.

They had been corralled right into the mine field.

The ground beneath their feet exploded Catching the two of them in the explosion. The homing missiles all converged on the spot creating an explosion that continued to be fed with more projectiles for several seconds. When the dust cleared Both Luffy and Zoro were left kneeling on the ground Luffy had His Gunbai over both their heads, it had apparently protected them from some of the blasts but they hardly looked like they could continue fighting.

Viv's heart dropped. They had been doing so well, she had almost thought they would win. They had been her only hope at escape and now…

Now there was nowhere to run.

"DEIDARA SENPAI!" A very loud and very… childlike voice yelled. Everyone looked over to see a figure in an identical cloak to Mr. Five's. He wore an orange spiraled mask over his face with a single eye hole. "OH! The C2 Dragon! You pulled out the big guns huh senpai."

"Tobi!" The now named Deidara said in surprise at the sight of the new arrival. Vivi looked at Mr. Five in fear, Secrecy was the policy of everyone in Baroque works, and Deidara would no doubt level the entire Town to make sure no one knew his name. "What are you doing here?"

"I have a message from Leader!" the masked and childish Tobi said excitedly. Vivi didn't recognize him but he had a message from Mr. Zero, it couldn't be good.

"Hm? From Leader? Is this about not showing up at the meeting?" Deidara asked.

"No no. Deidara senpai you're not in trouble. You have to keep your cover after all." Cover? Vivi wondered what the hell this Tobi was going on about. "You'll never believe it!" Tobi said excitedly. "Itachi Senpai Found the Sharingan!"

"The Sharingan? Seriously?" Deidara asked in disbelief. Vivi could understand why, they were the legendary in the grand line. The Mythical Eyes of Madara. The eyes that… the eyes… eyes. Both Vivi and Deidara evidently had the same thought as their heads snapped towards the two pirates. Luffy in particular.

Tobi looked towards where they were and freaked out. "Deidara senpai you almost destroyed them! What are we supposed to do if you blow them up!?"

"I didn't know!" Deidara said angrily. "Well they aren't destroyed so we can just kill him we could still retrieve the eyes."

"About that Senpai…" Tobi said. "Leader says we aren't supposed to kill him."

"Why not?" Deidara asked. "They made fun of my art."

"Those exploding pop art pieces?" Tobi asked tilting his head to the side.

"It's not pop." Deidara said giving Tobi a look.

Toby raised his hands defensively. "Mah mah, Calm down Senpai, you can't kill him because we need the Sharingan and he is going to Raftel."

"He wants to become pirate king?" Deidara asked in disbelief.

"Yup!" Tobi said happily. "So our plans are advancing. Leader sent me to tell you that your undercover mission is over!"

"It is?" Deidara said. Vivi looked at Deidara in astonishment, He was a spy. Then why had he been trying to kill her? was he trying to keep his cover? And what was Akatsuki?

Luffy staggered to his feet, getting Tobi's attention. "Ah! Don't move! You're really hurt! Hello I'm Tobi! Nice to meet you!"

"I'm Luffy. I'm going to be Pirate king." Luffy said with conviction before stumbling and leaning on his Gunbai heavily.

"Whoa! Really!? That's so COOL!" Tobi raved jumping around in a very animated fashion. "I'm really sorry about my Senpai attacking you! He can get touchy about his crafts."

"Tobi…" Deidara said. "What did you just call my art?"

"Umm… Craft? Tobi said uncertainly. An explosion occurred just where toby was standing, luckily it didn't catch Luffy or Zoro in the blast. The smoke cleared to reveal nothing.

"See. What did I tell yah? Touchy." Tobi said from directly behind Luffy

"Oh. So it was a misunderstanding?" Luffy asked Tobi nodded furiously. "Ok." Luffy said easily. Vivi's jaw dropped, he had forgiven them for nearly killing him THAT easily? "Now then…" Luffy turned around lifting his Gunbai shakily with two hands.

"Let's settle this." Zoro said drawing his blades once more. Vivi felt like she could cry at the two men's stubbornness.

"Hey hey. You two? Why are you fighting?" Tobi asked.

"I cut down everyone in town because they had deceived us." Zoro said

"Zoro is lying." Luffy answered

"I see." Tobi said. "Deidara Senpai. Your thoughts?"

Deidara huffed and turned away from the exuberant man. "The straw hat kid doesn't know the town was run by bounty hunters."

"It was?" Both Luffy and Toby asked at once.

"Hm. Yeah." Deidara said simply.

"Oh. Ok." Luffy said again accepting the explanation easily once again.

"SERIOUSLY!" Zoro yelled angrily. "That's what I told you from the start!"

"Really? I didn't pay attention." Luffy said picking his nose.

"IDIOT!"

Deidara turned towards Vivi drawing her attention away from the bickering pirates. "Hm. You survived all that fighting hm? You can stop cowering I don't have any reason to hurt you."

"So you were a spy." Vivi said.

"Yup. We weren't interested at all in whatever crocodile wanted, it was what another member of the organization was looking for that we were interested in."

"What was that?" Vivi asked edging away from the blond bomber while eyeing him warily.

"That a secret. Even if the mission is being aborted."

"So you weren't going to help me at all?" Vivi accused more than asked

"Of course not." Deidara said. "I may not have a bounty but I AM a terrorist bomber. Why would I do anything to keep something from blowing up? It would be spitting in the face of my art."

Vivi decided that this man was despicable, his art and all.

"OH! So she's a princess huh!?" The voice of Luffy called from behind Deidara. "I always wanted to meet one!"

"ME TOO!" Toby said with an equal amount of excitement as the two of them ran up to Viv until they were barely an inch away from her face

"I'm Luffy! Nice to meet you!"

"And I'm Tobi!"

"Uuu…uhm… Vivi… nice to meet you." Vivi introduced herself nervously. These two very eccentric men were invading her personal space and she was starting to feel uncomfortable. Thankfully the other two present decided to step in. grabbing their respective goofballs by their collars and pulling them away.

"Luffy. You're making her feel uncomfortable." Zoro said

"Come on Tobi. No reason to stick around. Let's get out of here I want to collect Sasori and abandon this boring ass mission." Deidara said.

Vivi froze at the name that came out of Deidara's mouth. Sasori was Chiyo's grandchild, the grand child of Vivi's Nanny and her father's most trusted advisor. He had gone missing ages ago along with her own grandfather, it had happened before she was born but Chiyo spoke of him often. It couldn't be the same person.

Luffy noticed her shock. "Vivi? What is it?"

Vivi snapped out of her shock and looked to Luffy still being held back by Zoro. "Nothing… Nothing at all."

"Oh? Ok." Luffy said shrugging.

The sound of flapping Wings reached Vivi's ears and she looked up to see Deidara flying away on one of his birds.

Tobi waved wildly from the back of the bird. "Good bye Luffy! It was great meeting you!"

"BYE! Say Hi to Itachi for me!" Luffy yelled after his new friend.

Vivi stared in bewilderment at the destruction around her, much of the town was reduced to rubble. She blinked and looked to the two pirates. The fighting had come to a very abrupt and strange end Vivi thought.

-o0O0o-

Luffy swayed on his feet. He checked himself over, his coat was in tatters, torn and singed around the edges, it was a good thing he had a few extra from their brief stop on Gunkan island. His hat was thankfully fine. He could feel pain in every limb and his head was pounding.

He looked over towards Zoro

"Ow… Zoro…" Luffy said as his vision started to go hazy

"Yeah?" Zoro asked, Luffy could see that he wasn't in much better shape.

"Sorry about attacking you." Luffy said.

"Idiot… You didn't know better." Zoro said stumbling as he tried to walk towards a small pile of rubble Taking a seat and leaning against it.

"Still should have listened to you." Luffy said

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPEED HERE!?" a familiar and welcome voice shouted.

Luffy and Zoro both looked up to see their orange haired comrade at the edge of the demolished area, eyes wide with shock.

"A fight." Luffy said simply.

"A fight? With who?" Nami asked

"Zoro." Luffy said immediately and getting a punch to the head for the trouble.

"You idiots! You fought each other? Look at this place! Look at yourselves!" Nami yelled. She seemed worried though.

"Calm down Nami." Zoro interrupted. "We didn't do this. Some guy named Deidara did."

"Deidara? He did this on his own? At least you won, right?" Nami said looking around for the broken and bloody body of her two strongest Nakama.

"We didn't" Luffy said smiling despite the shocked and fearful look on his Navigator's face. "He kicked our asses."

"Then… The princess?" Nami asked in worry. "OH! NO! She was going to give us one billion belly! Now she's gone!" Nami crouched down on the ground playing with the dust and ashes with a dark and gloomy cloud hanging over her head.

"Nami." Zoro said snapping Nami out of her depressive funk. "Deidara was with Akatsuki. He left without harming the princess." Nami brightened.

"Yup!" Luffy said smiling brightly. "Vivi's fine!" Luffy swayed dangerously at the end of his reassurance his vision was almost completely black by this time and the throbbing pain in his head had worsened he was only just barely registering what was going on around him what little he heard from this point on was not much more than muffled sounds. He was able to make out a vague mass of orange and green in his quickly diminishing field of view.

"mmuufuy aaaaaa muu muraih?"

"Muuffy…"

Luffy couldn't tell who was speaking so decided to make his predicament known to everyone in case they were all asking.

"Ah Sorry Guys. I can't stay conscious any longer." Luffy smiled, there was a slight slur to his words but he didn't notice. "I'm taking a nap."

And with that said Luffy fell face first onto the ground.

-END-

**so yet another lightly edited chapter, this is one of the one's I really liked so I didn't mess with it too much I just threw in a segment from the east blue arc in hear to cover s small bit of the time skip.**

**as for what the akatsuki want I am not going to list anything specific but i will say what it isn't. there are no demon type devil fruits so they won't be hunting down jinchuriki. their end goal involves the the ancient weapons but not directly. their purpose for going into deep cover in a number of groups is simply to keep tabs on all of the major players as well as steal information and assets and in some circumstances assassinate them if they are deemed a threat. they are very interested in the Ponaphemus though.**


	5. Chapter 5

Nami dropped Zoro onto the ground. She had brought him and Luffy into town on Carue's back. She looked down at her unconscious nakama. they were snoring loudly, a good sign. She had wrapped some bandages around their wounds but she knew she had done a poor job. Vivi sat across from her looking slightly dazed.

"I can't beliece they lost…" Nami said a note of worry making it into her voice. "They saved the whole east blue… from a grand line pirate no less. That they lost so soon…"

"Mr. Five… Deidara… He is… was… one of the stronger members of the organization, even by officer agent standards he was strong. Some say he could have taken the number one position if he had wanted to." Vivi said. "Of course he turned out to be a spy for… Akatsuki?" Vivi was silent for a moment. "Nami… What is Akatsuki?"

Nami looked at Vivi with a hint of surprise. Truth be told she had given it a lot of thought as well, ever since she had met Itachi and Kisame. They had said they were bounty hunters but if that was true Nami would eat every belly in her wallet. There had to be a reason that they had shown up searching for Arlong of all people and now apparently another Akatsuki member turns up spying on a secret underground organization. It didn't make sense. If Baroque works had been a Bounty Hunter Union or Guild or something then Itachi's cover story would have made sense but it was not according to what Igaram had told her.

"I don't know." Nami finally admitted. "We met a couple members several weeks ago. Itachi and Kisame. They claimed to be bounty hunters then but I think they had been lying. They were nice… Our captain took a liking to Itachi and Zoro seems to have some sort of rivalry with Kisame. But… I don't know anything else about them."

"Did you say Itachi?" Vivi asked with a suspicious look on her face. "Did you get a last name?"

Nami thought back to her interactions with the man but could remember at no point ever getting a last name. She shook her head. "Why do you ask?"

"A man named Itachi Uchiha is infamous for slaughtering his entire clan save for his younger brother, he has a huge bounty on his head." Vivi said.

Nami frowned. Itachi had been far too… nice to have done something as atrocious as kill his family. But he was able to avoid Luffy, disappearing seemingly into thin air. According to Luffy he was unable to track the man even with his Sharingan active. But still… Itachi? "Wait... Did you say Uchiha? Like Madara Uchiha?"

Vivi nodded. "It was a huge scandal several years ago. A government agent going rogue and killing off one of the worlds most powerful families."

Nami definitely didn't see such a killer in the calm and collected Itachi.

There was silence between the two of them for a moment. Nami was a little worried not only had the boys lost in front of the princess but now Nami was floundering for something to say to her. Her failure to provide any information on the Akatsuki was not a good way to have started off either.

Vivi finally broke the silence. "Why did they save me?" Vivi asked looking up at Nami with a mix of honest curiosity and suspicion.

Nami sighed internally; at least she hadn't been the one to bring it up. "I sent Zoro to save you, Luffy just ended up going along… But if you are asking why I did it… I would say for money."

"Money?" Vivi asked sounding scandalized and confused.

"You ARE a princess. I am offering our services to you, to help you return to your kingdom with these guys to protect you. A measly One billion belly is all I ask." Nami said with a broad and hopefully disarming smile.

"Impossible." Vivi snapped immediately.

"What? Why not? You're royalty. One billion belly is chump change to you." Nami said confused and a little taken aback by Vivi's outright refusal.

"Have you ever heard of the kingdom of Arabasta?" Vivi asked looking at Nami. Nami could see a tired resignation and simmering determination warring for domination on the young princess's face.

"Can't say I have…"

"It was once a pillar of civilization and peace." Vivi said. Nami cringed slightly, the story never ended well when it started with 'it was once', it was a given at this point that the kingdom was not such a nice place anymore.

Nami gulped. "What is it like now?"

"It's on the verge of civil war." Vivi answered bluntly. "And it's all because of Baroque works!" Vivi said with venom, Nami was taken aback by Vivi's change in demeanor. "I had discovered that they were responsible for inciting the rebellion. I couldn't find any more information on them however so I went to Igaram and together we infiltrated baroque works. I thought I would be able to find out who the mastermind was and what his plans were."

"To create an ideal nation…" Nami said to herself. Vivi looked at her in shock. "Igaram has told me a little." Nami admitted.

"That is what they say… however their real goal…" Vivi took a calming breath. "Is to take the throne of Arabasta. I must return to Arabasta as soon as possible and tell them the truth and stop this war before it truly begins."

Nami sighed. "So that's how it is… It's a civil war. Of course money would be scarce."

"So who's the mastermind." A voice said from against the wall. Vivi and Nami both turned to the source to find Luffy slumped there, awake. Come to think of it Nami hadn't heard any snoring for a while now.

"Luffy when did you wake up?" Nami asked surprised to see him with his eyes open. It had only been a couple hours since he collapsed, she expected him to be out for much longer.

"A while ago." Luffy said simply wincing slightly when he shrugged.

"I'm up too in case you were wondering." Zoro said yawning widely and closing his eyes once more

"I can't tell you something like that!" Vivi said shocked and appalled. "He would hunt you for the rest of your life!"

"Of course you can't tell us. We wouldn't want to get on this guy's bad side. He must be powerful if he is trying to take over an entire country." Nami said laughing the feeling of apprehension she was beginning to feel away. That was a close call

"He is! He is so strong you couldn't even hope to touch him! One of the seven Shichibukai, Crocodile."

There was silence as Nami stared at Vivi. Nami couldn't believe the words that came out of the other woman's mouth for too many reasons to even begin to count. The sound of flapping wings reached her ears and she turned to see an otter and a vulture perched above her. She didn't know why but she just knew they were going to be the ones to get her in trouble. They flew off quickly.

Nami grabbed Vivi by her coat and shook the princess violently. "WHAT WAS UP WITH THOSE TWO!? OH NO… THEY WORK FOR CROCODILE DON'T THEY!? WHY!? NOT EVEN TWO DAYS INTO THE GRAND LINE AND WE ALREADY HAVE A SHICHIBUKAI AFTER US!?" Nami barely registered the week apology she received from the princess. What she did hear were her two male crew members being as stupid as she had come to expect them to be.

"We are lucky to face someone like that so soon." Zoro said his familiar bloodthirsty grin making its way across his face.

"I wonder what he's like." Luffy asked, cracking his knuckles. Nami didn't even bother hitting them this time.

She made her way down the street. "I know it hasn't been long but it has been nice knowing you."

"Oy. Where are you going?" Luffy asked

"He doesn't know what we look like yet so I am leaving before it's too late." Nami said. If she could get to the ship maybe she would be able to sail off the grand line. Or at least find somewhere on it that wasn't going to kill her. Her thoughts and hopes died as she turned the corner to come face to face with the Otter and Vulture from earlier.

The otter turned a couple of sketch pads around and Nami gave up. She would just have to accept this, knowing her captain it was an inevitability anyways.

She had to admit though. The otter could draw some incredible portraits.

-o0O0o-

"What a fool." Robin said to herself. Igaram was a brave man but his plan had been asinine. Although robin had to admit that had it been implemented against any other agent it probably would have worked. If Robin had any pride in Baroque works she would be ashamed. As it happened however she couldn't care less.

Her curiosity was peeked at the sight of a pirate ship pulling out of the inlet. A jolly roger wearing a straw hat flew proudly from atop their mast. She didn't recognize the Jolly Roger but she only knew of one pirate that wore a straw hat. Monkey D. Luffy.

Her trusted Turtle Banchi swam up alongside the pirate vessel, easily keeping out of notice in the fog. She jumped up onto the deck and was greeted to the sight of two knocked out individuals on the ground before her. They weren't tied up so they couldn't have been captives. She caught a snippet of conversation from just below her.

"Oi did you explain it to them?" Robin looked to see that a man with green hair and three swords was the one speaking, he seemed to have come out of a terrible fight as he was covered in poorly wrapped bandages.

"Yup." A girl with bright orange hair said smiling. "I skipped all the boring details though." Robin looked back at the two people and noticed that they had very large bumps on their heads, like they had been hit very hard. Robin barely refrained from giggling at the scenario she had come up with.

Robin got comfortable on the railing overlooking the deck, watching with amusement as the crew worked below her. The whole crew was facing away from her giving her the opportunity to survey the ones she had not yet taken note of.

First there was Vivi, the still very young princess of Arabasta. Robin had to admit the girl was brave, extraordinarily so. To have infiltrated Baroque works on a rumor. The fact that she had succeeded in not only doing so but also becoming a frontier agent on top of that said a lot about her strength. Granted all it meant was that she was only marginally stronger than the average agent, but robin saw no reason to detract any from the princess's accomplishments.

The other figure she had not taken the time to look at yet could only have been Monkey D. Luffy. Robin raised a delicate brow at the massive gunbai on the boy's back; it was a peculiar choice of weapon. The straw hat was prominently place upon the boys head. Robin could honestly say she was having a hard time imagining him without it. Luffy must have participated in the same fight as the swordsman as Robin could see the white of poorly wrapped bandages peeking out from under his modestly decorated red captain's coat.

Robin suppressed a light chuckle as she got a mischievous idea.

"It certainly is a good thing you got away from those pursuers." Robin said feigning a tone of relief.

"It sure is." The orange haired girl said, the navigator if the log pose on her wrist was any indication. she chuckled very lightly to herself.

"There is a reef near the inlet be sure to avoid it so you don't strike the hull." Robin spoke up again.

"Don't worry about it I've got it covered." The navigator said, eliciting a twitch at the corner of Robin's mouth. For someone with her self-control this might as well have been giggling. The navigator stopped in confusion and Robin's smile became just slightly more amused as the realization seemed to be sinking in. "Luffy… Was that… you?"

Luffy looked over towards his navigator with a puzzled look. "It wasn't Vivi?"

The navigator looked over towards Vivi and received a shake of the head in response. So ever so slowly the navigator turned to finally look at Robin.

"Nice ship." Robin said idly. It was too. Kind of... If it had not been so damaged it would have made for a beautiful ship but it had obviously undergone some shoddy repairs recently.

Upon seeing her everyone, especially the young princess, reacted with looks of shock or aggression. Luffy however just tilted his head the side slightly. "How did you get on my ship?"

"You…You're…" Vivi was barely able to come up with something to say, poor girl.

"I saw Mr. Eight not too long ago." Robin said as if making casual conversation. It wasn't a lie either even if the implied meaning wasn't the truth.

"You killed Igaram!" Vivi said with more venom than Robin thought she was capable of. "What are you doing here? Ms. All-Sunday!"

"All-Sunday? Whose partner is she?" The navigator asked curiously and not just a little worried.

"She is…" Robin tilted her head slightly waiting for the big reveal. "Mr. Zero's!"

"CROCODILE'S!?" The navigator yelled in shock. Robin quickly pieced the information together. She had thought something like this was happening but she had not asked Igaram for a more in depth explanation, but she was happy to see that her hypothesis was correct. Vivi had indeed shared very sensitive information with the straw hat pirates. Not that she cared at all.

"She is the only one who is allowed to know the boss's true identity. We shadowed her to learn it." Vivi explained.

Robin's smile became more amused. "Or… more precisely, I LET you follow me."

"I knew that!" Vivi said, this actually surprised Robin; Vivi was more perceptive than she had at first given the girl credit for. "But you were the one that told the boss about us weren't you!?"

"That is correct." Robin said

"Just what are your intentions!?" Vivi yelled back.

Robin sighed, she could hardly trust anyone she met to know where she slept at night, she would never let anyone know what her actual intentions were. Robin lost her smile at the thought, the last twenty years had NOT been at all pleasant. "I wonder... I have to give you credit though. To have infiltrated baroque works to such a high degree, You have my respect for being the only one with the courage to do that." Robin admitted.

"Well I wasn't the only one." Vivi said as if the revelation would anger Robin, it did not but it did pique her interest.

"Mr. Eight? I know" Robin said.

"No. another agent and his partner apparently. Deidara." Vivi said.

"Deidara… Mr. Five? He was working for you was he?" Robin asked

"No. He infiltrated the organization for a group called Akatsuki. They weren't spying on the boss though." Vivi said narrowing her eyes at Robin. "What are you planning?"

Robin's eyes widened imperceptibly. There had been spies… after her. Worst of all she had not even noticed. But that had been what made Mr. five so frighteningly strong, his intelligence. She would have to find out more about this… Akatsuki. Robin's smile was long gone and at this point probably wouldn't be making another appearance any time soon. "Regardless of what he was doing. YOU actually thought that you could take down Baroque works all on your own. It was a foolish idea." Robin said a slight mocking tone making its way into her voice despite her attempts at keeping her voice neutral; she was too flustered to do so however.

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" Vivi yelled, when she got angry everyone on the ship stepped into action. The two unconscious crew members had gotten up and pointed weapons at her, the long nosed one actually had a sling shot. The swordsman made to draw one of his blades, it was the white one, it must have been the one he had the longest. The navigator had a quarter staff that she quickly and expertly assembled. They were all ready to attack should she do anything.

She noticed that Luffy didn't do anything though. He stood in exactly the same way he had before, not reaching for his gunbai or even taking a step towards her. He seemed particularly nonthreatening. She was unable to see much of his face from where she was sitting, his hat hid a good portion of it from this angle so she couldn't tell if he looked angry or not.

"Oi. Sanji. Do you know what's going on?" The long nosed one asked.

"Not really. All I'm aware of is that the lovely Ms. Wednesday is in trouble." The blond smoker said, apparently his name was Sanji.

"Please, calm yourselves…" Robin activated her powers and disarmed the crewmembers with little trouble. She did it quickly as well, no need to advertise her powers to them; just let them know she had them but keep it a mystery. There was safety in mystery. "and stop waving such dangerous things around."

"Don't tell me…" The swordsman said in shock looking down at his dropped sword.

"The devil's fruit." Vivi said in shock and fear.

"She is a devil fruit user? What kind of power does she have?" The navigator asked in much the same tone as Vivi.

Robin smiled lightly as she recognized that she had taken control of the conversation once again, it was nerve wracking for her to not have control.

She spotted someone trying to sneak up behind her with her devil fruit power. Robin's smile became a little strained as she recognized who it was. She quickly removed the frying pan from the small girl's grasp.

Robin turned to regard the small girl that had tried to take her by surprise. Apis. The girl couldn't have been more than twelve. It saddened robin greatly, this small girl was in such a similar situation to Robin's. Barely more than a child and already wanted by the world government. Apis was perhaps the youngest pirate at sea. "It isn't very nice to sneak up on someone you haven't met, dear." Robin said before continuing on in what she hoped was a comforting tone. "Don't worry, I don't intend to hurt you or your friends."

Apis regarded her with narrowed eyes. "Really?"

"Really. You can stand with your friends if it would make you feel safer." Robin said sprouting an arm on the wall behind the girl and giving her a gentle push.

Apis looked shocked but hurried down the stairs to join her friends.

"Shishishishi." The sound of laughter caught robin's attention. It reminded her almost of Saul. Upon looking to see the source she was surprised that it was Luffy that was laughing. "You aren't a bad person at all, are you?"

Robin stared down surprised at the broadly grinning captain. Truly this conversation was going nothing like she had expected, not at all in her control. This crew… it threw her off balance just trying to talk with them. "I… Wonder about that." Robin said regaining her composure. She used her powers to quickly sprout a hand under his hat to toss the article up towards her. Luffy didn't look surprise just continuing to smile up at her.

Everyone else around him however seemed absolutely floored. "Oy Luffy she took your hat!" The long nosed one yelled.

"I know." Luffy answered easily not taking his eyes off of Robin.

"You're just going to let her take your treasure like that?!" The navigator asked, she seemed more than shocked.

"She isn't going to keep it." Luffy said simply. Robin wondered why he would be so sure.

"How do you know that?" The navigator asked back.

"She already has a hat." Luffy said simply prompting everyone to face plant onto the deck in surprise. Robin chuckled at the scene. "Hey… Join my crew." The recovering crew members openly gawked at him. Robin blinked in surprise at the captain's offer.

"I am sorry darling but I am afraid I must decline your offer. I came simply to warn you. The next island on the grand line from this one is called Little Garden. I have no intention of stopping you but even if I did I would not need to." Robin threw an eternal pose down to the Navigator. "This is an eternal pose to Nanimonai Island, it is just short of Arabasta."

"It's obviously a trap." The swordsman said. Robin had to admit that his suspicions were well founded even if they were not true.

"It could be." Robin answered simply.

Vivi and the navigator seemed to be giving the eternal pose a great deal of thought. Luffy however just walked calmly towards the instrument. Taking it from their hands he tossed it up towards Robin who caught it easily. The navigator seemed to be freaking out about this action.

"I'm sorry. But I refuse your help." Luffy said robin's brow quirked upward slightly. "You don't decide our course." Robin conceded this point, it was the captain's job after all.

"Oh? How unfortunate." Robin smiled, a small but genuine smile. Monkey D. Luffy was entertaining. She tossed his hat back onto his head.

Robin made her way to the side of the boat. "Should you survive, lets meet again." Robin said over her shoulder.

"Sure. You'll join my crew then." Luffy said resolutely.

Robin jumped over board and onto her ride. "Let's go Banchi." Robin said as her turtle swam away.

She chuckled when she heard Luffy's cries of amazement at her turtle. Robin sighed in releife as she made her way farther away from the ship. that whole exchange had thrown her off balance however, that captain of theirs…

…he was quite something.

-END-

**so I edited this a bit. here are some of the chapter notes just to keep som ethings clear.**

**Gaara is Vivi's adopted brother. He isn't all that well liked by the rest of Arabasta. His role in keeping the resistance at bay in the civil war has done less than endear him to the general public. It terms of role in the story he is taking the place of Pell as Arabasta's strongest warrior. **

**And now chapter notes.**

**So the interaction with Robin was seen from Robin's point of view. I wanted to get her thoughts and interpretations of events since the anime and manga were largely from the crew's pov. I wrote Robin as a clever and intelligent woman able to draw conclusions and make observations about those that surround her. however I made sure to include an acute sense of insecurity seeing as her life up to this point has been hard and full of betrayal. This is why she has very minor bouts of panic and anxiety throughout the conversation, they aren't major or completely noticeable but they are there.**

**She empathizes with Apis and shows a fondness for children mostly because of events in her past. It is this gentleness and the saddened look she had on her face (Barely noticeable if Luffy hadn't had his Sharingan active) that led Luffy to his conclusion of her personality. Being that she was in fact a nice person. Luffy did not keep his Sharingan active after seeing this thus why Robin never saw it.**


	6. Chapter 6

"Wow… so this is little garden, huh?" Luffy said peering into the thick jungle on either side of the river.

"The hell do they mean by "Little"?" Zoro asked. Vivi had to agree with him, none of the greenery could possibly be called little. Towering and wild, the vegetation nearly blotted out the sun.

"This is unexplored territory isn't it?" Usopp asked his voice shaking. "I think I've come down with Can't-go-on-the-island-fever." Vivi quite frankly found the long nosed sniper's antics ridiculous, but it did remind Vivi of the warning Ms. All-Sunday had given them a few days prior.

"The animals sound… Savage." Apis said from atop Carue. Apis had taken a liking to him when they had first met and much to Vivi's initial confusion spent many hours talking. The other crew members had found the situation amusing and it had finally been Nami who explained that Apis had eaten a devil fruit that allowed her to converse with animals. Vivi had been quite cross with the others.

"So there are monsters?" Usopp asked making as if to hind behind Zoro.

Zoro shrugged him away. "Who knows. It certainly looks like there would be."

"Let's not stop here. Let's just keep sailing on to the next island." Usopp said frantically.

"We can't do that." Nami said crossing her arms. "The log pose has to set before we can leave."

"We are also short on provisions." Sanji pointed out. Vivi remembered how abruptly they had left Whiskey Peak, a few of them hadn't even been awake.

"Maybe there will be a yakiniku stand around here." Luffy said with a broad smile across his face.

"Why the hell would there be one here?!" Zoro snapped disbelieving at his captain's stupid statement. Vivi had come to expect better of him and it seemed even Zoro had the same expectations. Then again they were talking about the guy who invited the enemy to join their crew after just meeting her.

"What's with those plants? I have never seen anything like them in my books." Nami said pointing at some of the large fern like plants.

Loud screeching filled the air scaring Nami and Usopp. Vivi was also shaken but Apis alleviated her fear of whatever was making that noise. "That was a call to hide." She said.

"Hide from what?" Usopp asked. "Us?... Well naturally even the mightiest of beasts would run and hide at the sight of the great Captain Usopp."

Apis looked irritated. "No." Apis pointed up behind Usopp. "They were hiding from that." The crew looked up. Just in time as Sanji was able to duck under its talons and avoid getting taken off.

"WHAT THE HELL YOU SHITTY BIRD!" Sanji yelled after the retreating creature.

"O-oi A-aa-apis… You could have told us sooner!" Usopp said shakily crouching low to the deck with his arms over his head.

"I tried." Apis said putting her hands on her hips and striking a pose Vivi just knew came from Nami. "You interrupted me." Apis bonked him on top of the head to drive the point home. Vivi giggled, and Nami seemed to look on her with with pride.

"Sorry." Usopp said.

They anchored the ship shortly afterwards. Usopp still refused to get on the island and Nami was advocating for them all to remain on the ship until the log set.

Sanji and Zoro didn't seem to care and Vivi could see that Zoro was already looking at the forest as if he was ready to just go for a walk.

One member of the crew in particular seemed overly enthusiastic.

"OY Sanji! Lunch box!" Luffy called his grin clear in his voice.

"Hm?" Sanji looked at Luffy curiously.

"A Pirate Lunch Box! All meat! No vegies!" Luffy called after the cook who had simply shrugged and went off to prepare his captain's order.

"Wait Luffy! Where do you think you're going!?" Nami asked. She almost seemed to be in a panic.

"On an ADVENTURE!" Luffy was practically dancing where he stood he was so excited.

Vivi looked at the scene and thought that Luffy was having a lot of fun, hadn't Nami said something about lightening up? "Hey. Is it ok if I come along with you?" Vivi asked the still dancing captain.

"SURE! Of course you can!" Luffy said.

"You are actually going along with this!?" Nami asked getting in her face.

Vivi had become accustomed to Nami's very aggressive behavior and so was hardly fazed by it. it was just her way of expressing concern.

"Why not? If I sit around here I will only get depressed." Vivi said. Giving Nami a reason the woman wouldn't be able to argue. "Besides Carue will be with me."

Nami looked at Carue. "He looks too shocked to speak." Apis looked at her feathered friend and nodded her head in affirmation. Vivi had to admit, Carue did look pretty shocked.

"Then I will make Vivi a special Love lunch box." Sanji said

"Can you make Carue some of your special drink as well?" Vivi asked

"Of course Vivi-chan." Sanji answered.

"Make me a lunch too!" Apis called out. Nami snapped her head in the young girl's direction.

"Apis!" Nami said in a stern voice. "Luffy and Vivi can handle whatever is out there. you are too young."

"Says the one with no bounty." Apis crossed her arms and put on what Vivi would call an angry child look.

"What did you do that made you actually DESERVE that bounty?" Nami said her hands on her hips.

Apis stood up on Carue's saddle matching the navigator's stance. "I sank a marine ship."

"Well-" Nami began only for Vivi to lay a hand on her shoulder.

"Nami, Let her come. I know you're worried but Luffy can look after her if anything happens." Vivi said

Nami looked conflicted for a moment before sighing in defeat. "Fine Apis can go…" She turned and grabbed Luffy by the collar, leveling an intense glare at her captain. Vivi almost felt bad for him but she had to remind herself that Nami had personally taken up the role of Apis's big sister figure. "If even one hair on her head is harmed you will regret it. Am I clear?"

"Yes ma'am." Luffy said sweating profusely under the heated glare.

Nami smiled letting go of Luffy. "Good. Apis, you can't go adventuring in your dress. Go get changed while Sanji prepares the food"

"YAY!" Apis cheered as she sprinted below deck. "Thank you Nami!" she yelled over her shoulder before she disappeared.

Vivi smiled at the childish display. It was good that the girl still acted like a girl even if she had joined a pirate crew. Sanji came out with a large blue backpack full of food and a small barrel of Carue's special drink. The barrel was hung from around the duck's neck.

Apis came from below deck wearing white shorts and a yellow shirt. She still had her hat on her head and her red shoes. "Ok! I'm ready!" Apis exclaimed as she climbed up onto Carue to sit in front of Vivi.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Luffy leapt over the gap between the boat and the forest and wasted no time before running off into the jungle.

Vivi urged Carue forward, leaping the gap and running after the boy

-o0O0o-

Mr. Three sat within his wax hideout a nice hot, soothing cup of earl grey in his hand. His partner Ms. Golden week sat near the window.

Mr. three looked over the information he had received. Mr. Five and his partner had gone missing. Mr. Three suspected that they had been traitors from the beginning but his opinion hardly mattered at this point, they were gone and that was that. He wished that it had instead been Mr. Two that had disappeared then he would get a promotion. As it was, the loss of Mr. Five presented a wide variety of problems. He had been perhaps the strongest member in baroque works and Mr. Three had to admit that both Mr. Five and Mr. Halloween possessed an that might have even outstripped his own.

While they had been in the organization they had refused any attempt to promote them, creating something of a roadblock in the organization's hierarchy. Namely Mr. Six and Ms. Mother's day. They were certainly skilled, skilled enough perhaps to have been promoted long ago but with Mr. Five taking that position it was impossible to do so. Even skipping Mr. Five and fitting them in as a lower number was impossible for it would mean demoting an incredibly powerful officer to nothing but a frontier agent. Simply replacing some of the officer agents was a no go as well for most of them played an important role in the boss's plans.

In the end the only way Mr. Six would have been promoted was if he had personally taken out one of the officer agents, after Mr. five had done the same however Mr. Zero was less than willing to allow that.

The door opened drawing his attention. A tall man with bandages covering the lower half of his face entered the room. He wore arm warmers and baggy striped pants that were held up by suspenders. Upon his back was a huge sword. The old Mr. Six and the New Mr. Five. "Ah Mr. Five. How are you liking your new title?" Mr. Three asked

"It doesn't matter what number I have all that matters is that I get paid when this job is done." Mr. Five said. "If having a higher number means better pay so be it." Unlike the other members of Baroque works the new Mr. Five was a lot more upfront about his intentions, he wanted money and treated his involvement in the organization like a mercenary did a job. Mr. Three couldn't fault him for this, whatever level of involvement he wished to take in the organization was his own decision. And his behavior was understandable considering who this man was.

Mr. Three prided himself on his intelligence and information played a big role in his philosophy. Zabuza Momochi, the demon hidden in the mist, an infamous mercenary and the first capture of the still young but incredibly accomplished Captain Uzumaki Naruto. He was however able to escape before being moved to impel down. The sword Zabuza carried served as both his weapon and his credentials as it was one of seven other unique and mysterious blades that were almost as unusual as the devil fruits were. To wield one of these blades made you one of the swordsmen of the mist a group that had at one time was said to rivaled Hawkeye in sword prowess.

Another figure came in after Zabuza, Ms. Mother's day. Despite the promotion she had not changed her code name. Unlike Zabuza she was more of a mystery, no records of any kind and usually kept her face hidden behind a mask. She was young though and youthful, with an incredibly feminine face for some odd reason Mr. Two had taken a particular liking to the teen, doting on her any chance he got. "This is an interesting power you have here, Mr. Three. To make a base on such short notice is an impressive and useful tool." She said in her usual calm voice, Mr. Three couldn't help but think of it as icy for some reason.

"We were sent to meet up with you on this island. The boss said you would have our mission." Mr. Five said.

Mr. Three nodded. "Take a look at this wanted poster." He said pulling out an old a battered poster from his pocket.

Zabuza picked up the poster and looked it over. "Oh? Blue ogre Dory and Red ogre Brogy, I had heard legends of them."

"Each of them has a one hundred million beli bounty on their heads. Catching both of them would yield a two hundred million beli reward."

Zabuza looked at Mr. Three. "Very well, I would hope you at least have a plan to deal with them, giants are not an enemy to be taken lightly."

"Of Course Mr. Five, a superior criminal uses his superior intellect to commit his crimes. You two need only follow my orders." Mr. three said

Mr. Three was shocked to see Ms. Mother's day pull a long translucent needle from seemingly thin air and move to throw it at him. Thankfully Zabuza put out his had stopping the movement. "We will work WITH you, so long as your plan works you will have our support." He said, Ms. Mother's day seemed to calm down letting the needle melt out of her hand. "You're on your own if the situation goes south however."

Mr. Three sipped his tea. "My plan will work. With a suitable plan even mountains can be flattened." He reassured his new colleagues.

-o0O0o-

"Luffy get down from there!" Vivi called up to the excited boy. He was currently standing atop the head of a dinosaur, a real live dinosaur. It had dawned on Vivi that they had landed on a prehistoric island. This being the case she was beginning to REALLY regret coming with Luffy.

"Why? he doesn't mind." Luffy said down to them. "By the way there is this huge holy mountain, this island sure does have some strange terrain.

Vivi made to retort but was interrupted by Apis. "Luffy's right, he really doesn't mind." Vivi watched as Luffy wrapped his chain around the dinosaur's neck like reigns and pulled hard eliciting a bellowing roar from the long necked creature. Apis sweat dropped. "Now he minds."

"DON'T DO THAT!" Vivi yelled in anger. She noticed that Apis was looking rather nervous. "Apis?"

"It's calling its parents…" Apis said leaving the comment to hang in the air.

Vivi very quickly pieced the information together. If this MASSIVE creature was young then how big would the adults be. Her question was answered as, true to her fears, even taller dinosaurs surrounded Luffy and the first dinosaur. Vivi didn't need Apis to tell her that these dinosaurs were less than happy with Luffy. "Luffy get down from there! It's dangerous!"

Much to Vivi's dismay Luffy only seemed to get more excited. Vivi started to steer Carue away as she witnessed Luffy hop around atop the dinosaurs who were all attempting to eat him, all he did was laugh though. Vivi watched on in shock and disbelief as the boy slid down one of the dinosaurs like some sort of caveman or something.

The largest and most brutal looking of the dinosaurs opened its mouth below a falling Luffy snapping its jaws shut around the STILL laughing boy. Vivi, Apis and Carue all stared on in disbelief and fear. "Did he just…" Apis started

"Get EATEN!?" "QWACK!" The all exclaimed falling to the ground in their shock.

Their poor shaken hearts got no time to rest as the ground shook with heavy footfalls and the dinosaurs head was cut cleanly off.

Luffy popped out of the hole in its neck falling towards the ground. A large hand that blocked out the sun caught Luffy stopping his fall to the forest floor. The other dinosaurs dispersed at the arrival of…

…a warrior the size of a mountain, a long flowing beard on his face.

"GYAGYAGYAGYAGYAGYAGYAGYA! I was watching you! You were playing with the long necks in this jungle. It's been a long time since I have met such a lively Human."

"Man you're huge! Are you even Human?" Luffy asked in amazement.

"GYAGYAGYAGYAGYAGYA! Human? You are a funny little human aren't you! I and I alone am Elbaf's mightiest warrior Dory!" The warrior said bursting into laughter once more.

Apis and Vivi looked up at the being in shock, Carue lay on the ground to afraid to get up. "It's- It's a giant!" Vivi exclaimed. "I have never seen them before!"

"I have only ever heard of them in stories…" Apis said.

"I'm Luffy! A Pirate!" Luffy exclaimed proudly from the giant's palm.

"GYAGYAGYA! A Pirate? THAT"S GREAT!"

"Apis, Carue, come on let's get out of here before he notices us." Vivi said urgently getting a hurried and eager nod from Apis as they jumped to their feet.

"Oh Yeah those guys over there are Apis, Vivi and Carue." Luffy said pointing prompting the individuals in question to freeze in their tracks and give Luffy looks of betrayal. "Say "Hi" Guys!"

"Why You…" Vivi said up to Luffy.

"GYAGYAGYAGYAGYAGYA! Allow me to show you my place! It's been a long time since I have had guests!" Dory said happily.

Apis and Vivi were both still of the opinion they would be eaten but their captain seemed to decide that the giant was trust worthy and thus they had no choice but to follow after him.

-o0O0o-

CLANG!

BOOM!

CLANG! CLANG!

CRASH!

Luffy watched in awe as the two giants did battle. His eyes blazed red as he engraved the awesome scene forever into his memory.

"Amazing…" Luffy said, almost whispered, to himself. Apis and Vivi looked on in worry; though Apis had eventually understood that the battle was not one of hatred she was still worried for their well being. she just had such a soft heart Luffy decided.

The battle ended abruptly with a cross counter, each giant receiving a shield to the face. It was a draw.

Dory walked with Brogy off into the distance a ways laughing with one another. Apis let out a breath drawing Luffy's attention. "That was unreal." She said. "But I am glad they didn't hurt each other."

Vivi nodded in agreement. Luffy just shrugged. It was nice that they didn't kill each other or something but it was a battle, a true and honest fight, one of them was supposed to get injured.

Dory returned quickly with a hand full of barrels, Luffy thought they looked familiar. "GYAGYAGYAGYAGYAGYA! I Met some very interesting humans." He said taking a seat on a nearby boulder. "There was a guy with a long nose and a woman."

"OH! Usopp and Nami! Our liar and our navigator!" Luffy said immediately recognizing the description of Usopp. "I guess they couldn't resist an adventure after all."

"GYAGYAGYA So they are your nakama, eh? Then that must mean this booze is from you!" Dory said with a broad smile holding up the barrels. Luffy smiled back, so that was why the barrels looked familiar. "Let us share it!" Dory suggested.

"No thanks, Ossan. I don't drink and Apis is too young." Luffy said. Apis pouted at the reminder of her age. Being the youngest crew member bothered her, Luffy never brought it up but he knew. It didn't really matter to him and he was sure she would get passed it eventually.

"Anyway, Dory-san How long does it take for the Log to reset?" Vivi asked worriedly as she looked around at the prehistoric wildlife.

"One year." Dory answered simply.

"ONE YEAR!" Luffy, Vivi and Apis all exclaimed in shock and worry. Just speaking for himself Luffy had to say that he would miss out on a lot of adventures if he stayed here for a whole year. But dinosaur meat was pretty good.

"You must have noticed by now all those puny human bones over there. Most people don't survive the whole year. They die of sickness or the wildlife kills them. Some of them even think to challenge us but the results are always the same."

"No matter how you look at it one year is TOO long." Luffy said looking up at the clouds drifting lazily by.

"Even if we do survive for that long who knows what will happen to my country in that time…" Vivi said putting her head in her hands, she was on the verge of tears at this point.

"Vivi…" Apis said worriedly putting a comforting hand on her back.

"There must be a way to leave earlier than that?" Luffy said with a frown.

"There is an eternal pose to Elbaf on this island but that goes to the winner of our duel. You can always challenge us for it." Dory said looking down at Luffy.

Luffy just waved the suggestion off. "I have no interest in going to your village. I Just want to get to the next island."

"Oh I see, then you can always just head off, if Elbaf smiles on you perhaps you will get lucky." Dory said before bursting into laughter.

"You're right! Maybe we will! Shishishishishi!" Luffy laughed along with the giant.

"That reminds me of some guy who set off before his log set!" Dory said through his booming laughter.

"OH? And what happened to him?" Luffy asked.

"How am I supposed to know?" Dory said before erupting into laughter again. Luffy laughed light heartedly, it wasn't that he was unaware of Vivi's plight it was just that there was no need to get so down about it, if things didn't work out then they wouldn't. But Luffy was sure that they would find their way off the island in short order. If they couldn't do anything about it then they really shouldn't worry, that kind of thinking was always bad.

Dory suddenly stopped laughing before opening his mouth as an explosion erupted from his insides. Luffy watched on in fear and worry. He was sure a giant's burp would be huge but Dory seemed to be in a lot of pain, smoke billowing out of his mouth as he fell backwards, this wasn't a burp.

"Giant-ossan!" Luffy ran forward to check on the giant. Why had the bear he had drank exploded, it was the only explanation, but why? It had been from his ship hadn't it? so why?

Luffy stood upon the giant's chest, he looked pretty roughed up but Luffy could feel his heartbeat through the soles of his feet.

"Why did it explode from inside him? Did that other giant set this up?" Vivi asked in outrage.

Luffy looked down at Vivi in anger and disbelief. "How could you say something like that?!" He asked jumping down. "WEREN'T YOU WATCHING!" Luffy yelled into her face. "Those giants have been fighting for a hundred years, they would never do something like this!"

"They who could it have been?" Vivi asked defensively. Luffy saw Apis looking on in worry both at the giant and at their fight, she obviously didn't want to see them fight like this. Luffy took a calming breath and gave Vivi a little room before the ground shook under his feet drawing his attention.

Dory was up and he looked angry. "It was you… Brogy wouldn't do this. So that just leaves you!" The giant said down to them.

Vivi took a step back and Carue ran into the woods with Apis on his back. "Luffy we have to run!" Vivi said urgently

"Running won't help." Luffy said taking the hat off and placing it firmly on Vivi's head. "Take this and stay safe." Luffy turned back to the giant drawing his massive Gunbai from his back.

"You don't seriously plan on…" Vivi trailed off when Luffy turned back to look at her, the sharingan sinning slowly in his eyes.

"Vivi. go." Luffy said simply. Luffy did not want her to get hurt, she had a country to save and she was one of their Nakama besides.

Vivi for her part felt as if she had no choice but to do as he said, she knew she would be no help and Luffy had been right, running wouldn't help.

Luffy turned back to Dory when he saw Vivi take cover behind a boulder. "Sorry, giant-ossan. But I am going to have to shut you up for a bit."

"You impudent little… You think you can get away with this!?" Dory swung his sword down straight towards Luffy. Who dodged to the side in time to avoid being crushed, honestly the blade was far too large to simply cut him. the impact from that simple downward stroke alone was enough to open up a fissure in the ground. Whatever injury Dory was suffering from seemed to aggravate him as the force from his own blow traveled through his body.

Luffy used stealth foot to quickly make his way up the giants blade delivering a a strike with the broad side of his weapon to Dory's face, it was little more than a slap to the giant but it stunned him long enough for Luffy to move away.

Luffy landed on the ground and rethought his situation, his strikes as they were now were hardly enough to faze the giant, Luffy supposed he could just let the giant keep attacking him until his injuries took their toll but Luffy dismissed the idea, he was trying to stop him for the giant's own good and allowing his injuries to worsen even if it would mean winning the fight was not what needed to be dome.

Luffy had never tried using his gunbai with the fishman karate he stole from the Arlong pirates but given the situation he would have to give it a try regardless.

Luffy snapped out of his thoughts just in time to avoid another downward stroke that caused the giant to cough up more blood. Luffy disappeared with another use of the stealth foot getting in close to the gasping hunched over figure of the giant.

Sorry

Luffy swung his gunbai, one hand gripping the handle the other hand lying flat against the fan itself. "**GREAT WAVE!**" Luffy shouted as he brought the weapon up into the giant's gut. He felt the water in the air and the giant's body push away from the strike like a wave. The strike was powerful enough to send the giant reeling back, he was falling and Luffy was sure that he had succeeded in stopping the giant.

He was proven wrong however when the giants foot came down on top of him.

Luffy didn't care what his grandfather had put him through being stepped on by a giant HURT! He was lucky enough to have landed atop one of the fissures the giant had made earlier, if he hadn't been able to squeeze himself into the crack he was sure the giant would have succeeded in killing him.

Luffy suddenly saw the sun again as the giants foot was lifted from overtop of him. The ground shook violently as the giant fell over. Luffy sighed in relief and looked to Vivi who had run up to where he was lodged in the ground. "How is he?" Luffy asked.

"Alive, I think." Vivi said

"I am pissed." Luffy said sitting up from the hole in the ground. "Like Dory said, the other giant didn't do this and none of my Nakama would stoop so low. We aren't alone on this island." Luffy said

Suddenly the earth shook once more as the volcano erupted. Luffy felt the rocks around him shift and on a worried look on his face. He was surprised when Dory stood back up grabbing his sword.

"Dory!" Vivi said shocked and worried. "Don't move! You're injured!"

"I am a warrior of elbaf. The warrior Dory! I cannot decline a duel." He said. "I am sorry for doubting you, but I must go." Dory started making his way away from them, Luffy attempting to get up to stop the giant but he found it to be a largely futile effort as his legs were trapped in the earth.

"DORY! HOW CAN YOU GO TO FIGHT! YOUR'E DUEL WAS SABOTAGED. A SABOTAGED DUEL ISN'T EVEN A DUEL ANYMORE IS IT?" Luffy yelled.

"Shut up. How can a little human like you who has lived barely ten or twenty years her the divine voice of Elbaf. The god of war has passed his judgement." Dory said with a serious look on his face.

Luffy scowled. Trying harder to get out of the ground, even Vivi was lending a hand but their efforts were met with little success. He thought he could feel it shift slightly but he still wasn't going anywhere regardless.

Usopp surprisingly and suddenly came flying from out of the jungle hitting his face against a rock. Luffy and Vivi stopped their struggles and stared at the new arrival.

Usopp picked himself up from the floor and rushed over to them. "THIS IS AN EMERGENCY! NAMI HAS BEEN EATEN BY A DINOSAUR!" Usopp yelled in panic.

"WHAT!" Luffy yelled scratching at the ground with his hands in an attempt to dig himself out.

"We were running away from a dinosaur when she suddenly disappeared!" Usopp explained frantically

Luffy couldn't believe it, refused to believe it. He would not believe it unless he saw it with his own eyes. Luffy was still panicking all the same, he had to make sure she was alright after all.

"GUY!" Vivi suddenly yelled snapping the two frantic individuals out of their struggle. "Did you actually see what happened to her?" Vivi asked.

Usopp shook his head. "But that dinosaur was right behind us. WHAT ELSE COULD IT HAVE BEEN?"

"I am not sure, but baroque works seems to have followed us here." Vivi explained.

"That evil organization? HERE?" Usopp asked paling rapidly at the implications.

Vivi nodded. "They already put bombs in the beer, I am sure that it would have been meant for u as well.

"The beer Dory drank?" Usopp said his eyes growing wide as he realized what they were saying.

"Yeah." Luffy said slamming his fist into the ground. "The beer exploded in his stomach."

"WHAT?! And he went to fight in that condition!?" Usopp asked looking towards the giants fighting in the distance.

"Yeah… I tried to stop him but…" Luffy began attempting to dig himself out again. If he could get free he would be able to stop their fight at least give Dory time to recover or better yet catch the perpetrators.

"NO WAY! For a hundred years those two have been fighting evenly at full strength! Their battle must be the most honourable battle in the world!" Usopp yelled. "How dare someone mess with their fight!"

Luffy watched the fight in the distance as the final blow was given. The advanced sight of the sharingan allowing him to witness every detail even from this distance.

"WHO WAS IT!" Luffy yelled towards the heavens as he slammed his fist into the earth repeatedly. Spider web cracks started to spread from the impacts, he would be freed soon. "SHOW YOURSELVES!"

"ALRIGHT LUFFY! I DON'"T KNOW WHO DID THIS BUT I WILL GO ROOT THEM OUT MySELF!" Usopp yelled with conviction. It was only a front however as Luffy could clearly see Usopp's legs shaking.

"I'll come too. I'm worried about Carue!" Vivi said.

"There will be no need for that." A growling guttural voice said from the treeline.

Luffy looked with the rest to see a tall man with a ridiculously large sword strapped to his back

"Who are you!?" Luffy yelled.

"Mr. six." Vivi said.

"Mr. Five now." The swordsman said tossing an unconscious Carue to the ground. "But you have the right person none the less."

"CARUE!" Vivi yelled running to check on the duck "What did you do to him?!"

"I didn't want him making a fuss so we knocked him out." Mr. five said. "Don't worry we didn't hurt him too badly, he isn't our target after all."

A masked person walked from the bushed With Apis in hand. Luffy looked on angrily redoubling his efforts to escape. "APIS!"

"Luffy! Save me!" Apis yelled.

"You bastards what are you going to do to her!?" Luffy yelled.

"We do not intend to harm the girl." The masked individual said.

"She has a capture alive notice. It is not in our interest to harm her." Mr. Five said. "We will simply hand her over to the marines and that will be that."

"You bastard! Usopp yelled rushing forward with his slingshot drawn. "Kayaku boshi!" Usopp yelled letting fly one of his exploding bullets towards the swordsman.

It seemed to have worked up until the point when a swarm of long clear needles flew from the smoke piercing him in several places throughout his body. Usopp collapsed to the ground clutching at his wounds.

"USOPP!" Luffy yelled making to get himself out. He was almost there just a little more and he would be free. The smoke cleared to reveal Mr. Five with his sword before him like a shield and the masked person with another handful of the clear needles, they were keeping Apis still with one hand as they threw the needled straight towards Luffy.

Luffy pulled hard on the chain that kept him attached to his Gunbai in hopes of using as a shield but it did not reach him in time he felt the needles pierce him in his arms and shoulders one even got him in the neck.

All at once the strength left his body as he fell forward, he was still conscious as he watched the swordsman grab Vivi and leave with her and Apis.

Luffy looked to Usopp and wondered if he was dead. Given his own state of being Luffy doubted it, that was one good thing at least. all he had to do now was get these needles out of his body and he would be able to rescue his Nakama. It was easier said than done however as Luffy could not even move his arms to accomplish the task. "DAMN!" Luffy yelled in frustration from his place on the ground. If only he hadn't been stuck in this stupid hole! He would have been able to protect them.

"Usopp…" Luffy said trying to get his friend's attention.

"Yeah…?" Usopp answered weakly.

"Can you forgive them?" Luffy asked.

"Never…" Usopp said back immediately. He still sounded weak though.

Luffy heard the sound of something hitting the ground. He turned as best he could in his current state to see Carue pecking at the ground that still held him trapped. "Are you… angry too?" luffy asked.

"QWACK!" Carue answered back a look of anger and determination on his face.

"Right. Then let's get them." Luffy said with an equal amount of determination. Carue started pecking at the ground again. "No Carue… The needles… pull them out." Luffy said to the bird. "I can't move with them in there."

Carue understood and began pulling the glass needles from Luffy's body. He could already feel his strength returning. He was going to kick their asses when he got out.

-o0O0o-

Zoro looked over at the restrained giant. He had little to do himself seeing as he had no way of escaping so he thought it would be best to just observe for now. Some guy with a huge sword had carried Vivi here and Nami had been captured much like he had, both women were in the same predicament as he was, feet trapped in wax and waiting to be turned into wax figures. Apis had also been captured but much to His and the other two girl's relief the candle guy didn't seem to want to turn her into a wax figure, Apis's wanted poster had said she was wanted alive. Zoro supposed that Apis should be thankful for that, her wanted poster, the same one that had all but forced her on this journey, was now the thing that saved her. "Seriously. That is a big-ass human." Zoro said offhandedly.

"Brogy don't just lay there do something! Do you want to become a wax figure?" Nami pleaded with the unresponsive warrior.

"Don't bother begging with him." The candle guy said in his pompous voice. "He just killed his friend who he has been fighting for one hundred years without even realizing his injuries." Zoro looked to the giant with respect; to do battle for one hundred years was impressive and admirable. His look of respect turned to one of anger however when the annoying candle guy started talking again. "The fool even wept tears of joy when he had won or were you weeping for the loss of your friend? You idiot, nothing can be done to save him. he's dead!" The guy laughed loudly.

"I knew." The giant finally said drawing everyone's attention. "I knew from the beginning that he was hiding something." Brogy said

"What a liar! I watched you're whole fight and I didn't see a shred of sympathy from you!" The candle guy said.

"How could a CHILD that doesn't even realize the significance of the WORD 'duel' comprehend the reason for my tears! A warrior continues to fight even as he conceals his wounds, and you DARE insult him!?" Zoro looked on at the giant; Zoro understood well what the giant was saying there was a code of honor, unwritten rules that every warrior followed. "HOW DO YOU SHOW SYMPATHY TO A WARRIOR THAT DESIRES A DUEL!?"

"You do not." The growling voice of the only other swordsman answered. Zoro looked to see him standing tall and looking the giant dead in the eye. "I apologize that you're duel did not end as honorably as you had no doubt hoped but at the very least your friend was given the opportunity to die in battle." Zoro saw that the man's words were sincere, surprisingly enough.

The masked figure that stood with him bowed to the giant. "You have our respect and apologies Brogy-san."

"I have seen your sincerity." Brogy said flexing his muscles and straining against his bonds, large cracks began to form in them. "But I cannot allow it to end this way! I see now what has happened!" Zoro watched as the giant stood up reaching for his axe. He got some satisfaction from seeing the still annoying candle guy back away in fear. "I will end this with my own hands!"

"If that is what you wish then so be it." The swordsman said drawing the massive blade from his back and running towards the giant. Zoro watched in curiosity as the swordsman jumped up the giants arm swinging his sword in a broad arch down upon the giant's neck. Zoro had to grudgingly give his respect to the unnamed swordsman, the amount of strength necessary to swing that blade let alone cut so cleanly through flesh must have been monumental. Luckily as large as the blade was it was still not large enough to cut all the way through the giant's neck but it did leave a large and profusely bleeding gash in its wake. It would have been a serious injury to any other but the giant seemed to shake it off quickly.

The giant fell to the ground and the candle guy took the opportunity to encase the giant in yet more wax, Zoro figured that this was probably a good thing as the wax that acted as the restraints for his head also served as an impromptu bandage, stopping the giant's bleeding.

Zoro watched as the swordsman landed once more sheathing his large blade, the man was skilled, and if Zoro even got half the chance to escape he would fight him.

"I guess I will have to restrain you properly!" The candle guy yelled throwing yet more wax upon the giant. "There is still more!" He yelled as he threw four large globs of wax into the air. They quickly formed into large wax spikes that fell to earth once more piercing through Brogy's hands and feet eliciting a scream from the warrior.

"How cruel." Vivi said before erupting into a fit of coughs. "My lungs…" Zoro knew what she was talking about, he was starting to feel slightly short of breath but he used his will to keep from coughing and to regulate his breathing, he would not give the annoying wax bastard the satisfaction of seeing him squirm.

"If this continues I will turn into a wax figure from the inside out…" Nami said coughing into her hands.

"That's it! Show me more expressions. Pain, anguish, despair, show me it all!" He yelled with a crazed look on his face. Zoro didn't like this bastard.

Zoro looked over to see The giant was crying, not tears of anguish but the tears of a warrior that had been deprived of what they valued most, honour.

"I can't move!" Vivi exclaimed.

"My arms have hardened as well!" Nami said in panic. "Zoro do something!"

Zoro drew two of his swords, the Sandai Kitetsu and Yubashiri. He turned to the giant. "You can still move right?" The giant looked at him curiously. "I can too. Feel like killing these guys with me?" Zoro asked the giant eliciting a surprised look. Zoro noticed the swordsman looking at him with his own curious expression and Zoro was glad to see that there was anticipation in his stance, he was looking forward to the upcoming fight almost as much as Zoro was.

"Zoro what are you planning?" Nami asked. She was shocked enough to turn around despite her hardened state when the thought finally seemed to dawn on her. "You don't mean to really…"

"I do." Zoro said simply.

"You're going to cut off your legs?!" Nami yelled in panic and bewilderment. "Stop joking!"

"I ain't joking." Zoro said shifting his blades into a reverse grip so he could more easily get at his legs. "It's the only way we will be able to get out of here. What is your decision"

"Our decision? What is that supposed to mean? Even if we do get out like that we wouldn't be able to run!" Vivi yelled at him. "It's hopeless."

"even if it is hopeless we wouldn't know until we try." Zoro answered back. "Besides we are going to die anyway why not make it ugly and struggle a little."

"You're bluffing." The wax bastard said. "there is no way you could bring yourself to do that!"

Zoro saw that Apis was giving him a horrified look from where she lay bound on the picnic blanket next to the strange girl with the paints.

The giant laughed. "What a fearless kid. With a spirit like that How could I refuse!"

"He's bluffing! They can't do anything! Impossible!" the wax bastard started to ramble, Zoro took a great deal of satisfaction from the panic in the man's voice.

"No… He's serious." The other swordsman said. "What is your name?" he asked looking to Zoro.

"Roanoa zoro." Zoro said with a grin.

"Momochi Zabuza." Even through the bandages Zoro could see the other man's grin. Zoro's own grin widened. Being a swordsman he had of course heard of the seven swordsmen. On an island in the grand line shrouded in mist seven legendary swords were created. For each sword there was a wielder who's skills with their respective blade was unmatched. The island hidden in the bloody mist was supposedly just a myth, a fairy tale told among the students of the dojos but here before him was THE Momochi Zabuza, he was no Hawkeyes but he was the perfect person to measure his skills against and Zoro could wait no longer to fight against the so called demon of the mist.

Zoro thrust his blades downward ready to sever his legs at the chance to cross blades with the man before him. he felt the cold steel dig into his legs but stopped when the sound of crashing reached his ears accompanied by yelling from a rather familial someone.

"WE ARE GOING TO KICK YOUR ASSES!" Luffy yelled as the tree line was blown away to reveal Luffy, Usopp and Carue.

"Master Brogy we are here to avenge your suffering!"

"Usopp…" The giant said with relief and gratitude in his voice

"Well well if it isn't the man with the highest bounty in the east blue. I must say-" The wax bastard's voice died in his throat when he saw the captain's eyes. Zoro smirked, it was just like someone with a weak will like that wax bastard to become speechless at those eyes.

Zoro sheathed his swords. "Sorry, Zabuza, you will have to wait for my captain to free us if you want a duel."

Zabuza just looked at Zoro he no doubt knew exactly what Zoro was playing at. "If you want a duel than you will have to struggle for it." Zabuza challenged back.

Zoro smirked.

-o0O0o-

Luffy looked at the spinning thing that his friends said was hurting them. He had to destroy it. he noticed that Apis was not there. looking around he saw the small girl was restrained by what looked like wax next to a girl quietly munching away at a picnic.

"Ussop. Get Apis. I will hold them back." Luffy said bringing his gunbai back.

"Right." Usopp said from atop Carue.

Luffy disappeared using the stealth foot quickly closing the gap between himself and the closest adversary, the guy with the three shaped hair. The man got little to no warning as Luffy brought his gunbai to bear upon him.

CLANG!

The gunbai was stopped by a piece of metal almost as large as it was. The sword of the guy that had taken Vivi. Though the gunbai was stopped the wave from the Luffy's new technique continued onward striking the guy with the weird hair and sending him flying into the jungle.

"That's quite the attack you've got there kid." The guy who stopped his attack said prompting Luffy to stare the man in the eyes. "The sharingan eh? I will have you know that this is not the first time I have come against them." The man said. Luffy tilted his head to the side in confusion at the man's words.

Luffy quickly leaped away from the man in order to protect Usopp from a barrage of glass needles. The swordsman ran up beside Luffy swinging his massive sword at both Luffy and Usopp at once. Luffy took the hit with his gunbai as a shield. Luffy skidded across the ground but was able to stop it before it reached Usopp and Carue.

-Usopp vs. Haku-

Usopp for his part was frantically firing exploding stars at the masked individual. The masked individual was proving to be a tricky target however as she moved too quickly for Usopp to take proper aim. They were almost to Apis when a large mirror formed in front of them a reflection of the masked person within.

Usopp ducked out of fear and it proved to not only be merited but extremely lucky as more glass needles zoomed by overhead. So this person had a devil fruit.

That was BAD.

Usopp dismounted and fired more exploding stars at the mirror which shattered, the masked individual was no longer in the mirror though. Looking towards the wax construct Usopp got an idea "Carue take this rope and run around that thing." Usopp said hold out one end of a simple rope to the bird. "I will hold… her? off." Usopp said realizing mid-sentence that he really didn't know what gender his opponent was.

Carue gave a nod before running off to complete his mission. Usopp turned back to the masked person. "You are a girl right?" Usopp asked trying to hide the shaking of his legs.

-Luffy vs. Zabuza-

Luffy swung his Gunbai with greater and greater force as he continued his fight with his opponent. Luffy was pleased to see that he was forcing the swordsman back. But that wasn't to say that Luffy wasn't struggling to do so. The guy was strong, incredibly strong. It was slight but Luffy could tell that as far as just pure brute strength went the man before him was stronger. Luffy was only thankful he had learned to use the fish punch thing when he did. If he hadn't this fight would have easily been in his opponents favour.

Luffy grimaced, the fight was still taking too long, and his friends would be encased in wax soon if he didn't do anything.

-Apis vs. Ms. Goldenweek-

Apis looked at the strange and incredibly laid back girl that simply munched away at rice crackers while everyone else was fighting.

Apis started hitting the two candles that held her hand and feet together hoping that they would break. They were made of harder stuff than that however and Apis was forced to concede defeat. Apis sighed before looking to the girl that sat next to her. She was maybe only a few years older than Apis herself from the looks of it.

Apis sighed again looking at the rice cracker in the girl's hand. "Can I have one?"

Ms. Goldenweek held out a bag of them and Apis grabbed one before joining the girl in watching the fighting, munching on a rice cracker.

-Usopp vs. Haku-

Usopp watched the bird run. He launched as many exploding and flame stars as he could at his masked adversary, trying to keep their attention on him.

Of course that hardly meant he was holding his ground. Usopp was running around the clearing as fast as his legs would carry him which was admittedly pretty fast. Whenever he would stop to fire another star he would have to duck and dodge the glass needles

Usopp saw that the bird had done its job and switched targets quickly. "FLAME STAR!" Usopp yelled as he launched a flaming pellet at the rope. It was unfortunate that he took his eyes off the masked person though as needles of glass punctured his skin in several places. Usopp launched another exploding star at the mirror that had formed causing it to shatter once again. Usopp took the extremely brief break to pull some of the needles out, he kept a lookout for his masked adversary though, it wouldn't do to let his guard down again.

He at least was happy to note that he had succeeded at his original goal, the wax contraption was melting in a massive inferno. His friends would be free soon.

Another needle pierced Usopp in the arm. He would have liked to stay and watch his handy work but he also REALLY didn't want to end up looking like a pin cushion.

And with that Usopp began his run again.

-Luffy and Zoro vs. Zabuza-

Luffy locked weapons with the man once again. They both strained against one another. They noticed the fire burning around them but did not stop their struggle.

Luffy was surprised to note that his opponent was using the same technique he was. Albeit a slightly slower version but it made no noise whatsoever.

"You're quiet." Luffy said while they were still in their lock. "Who are you."

"I am Momochi Zabuza, demon hidden in the mist and master of the silent killing technique. Though you seem adept in its use already you are hardly using it to its full potential." The now named Zabuza stated. "Who did you steal it from Sharingan boy."

"Kuro." Luffy answered.

"That brat? A smart boy but no drive. One of my more disappointing students." Zabuza stated before jumping out of the way of a figure irrupting from the flames. Zoro landed next to Luffy bringing his blades to bear on the spot Zabuza had once stood.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Zabuza." Zoro said. All three of his swords drawn.

"And now I have two opponents? Very well. I welcome the challenge." Zabuza sheathed his sword confusing Luffy and Zoro.

"Oy Oy. You're not running away are you? We ain't done yet!" Zoro said angrily.

"Of course not." Zabuza said taking a pose with on hand in front of his face and the other raised straight up into the air. Both hands had two fingers extended. "Hidden mist" Zabuza said as a thick fog billowed out from around him concealing his form and leaving Luffy and Zoro all but blind.

"Tch. What a dirty trick." Zoro said.

"And what is wrong with that?" The voice of Zabuza seemed to come from all directions at once. "In a battle one seeks to break bones and sever limbs, injure their opponents eyes or create fear all in order to gain an edge over their enemies. This mist is no different."

"Luffy can you see?" Zoro asked the place he thought Luffy was.

"Barely." Luffy answered back.

"Then we will just have to rely on our other senses."

"Zoro be careful this guy is REALLY quiet." Luffy said in warning though out his clash with Zabuza, Luffy had not heard a single sound other than the clashing of their blades.

Zoro nodded, before feeling a disturbance in the air, acting on instinct he whirled around and brought his swords up in a guard. It was just in time too as Zabuza's massive blade made contact and caused Zoro to skid back a good distance. Zoro wasted no time in attacking the spot he had been struck from only for his swords to meet nothing.

"Impressive..." Zabuza's voice came once again. "When using this technique I only very rarely have to swing my sword more than once. Even against multiple opponents."

Zoro was just able to make out Luffy's form next to him as they positioned themselves so they were back to back. This mist was going to be troublesome to deal with.

-Apis and Carue Vs. Ms. Golden week-

Apis felt the wax holding her hands and feet melt off. She grinned as her chance finally arrived. She slowly reached for a stick that lay just a short distance from her.

Taking hold of it she leapt at Ms. Goldenweek. She felt kind of bad about it but she was her enemy, as nice as she was.

"Take this!" Apis said swinging the stick down. she was shocked to find that she had hit nothing except a large red design that was painted onto the ground.

Apis turned back towards Ms. Goldenweek intent on knocking the girl out. She only ended up hitting the design again, the same one. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!" Apis yelled angrily.

"color trap- Red- the color of bullfighting." Ms. Goldenweek said simply. "I use colors to influence others."

Apis charged at Ms. Golden week once again making sure to look away from the pattern as actively as possible. Ms. Golden week reacted by painting a green symbol on her shirt. "Color trap- soothing green." She dipped her brush into her paints again and added more yellow to the symbol. "Color trap- yellow-green- the color of friendship."

Apis stopped and lowered her weapon a feeling of great calm coming over her. she smiled at the girl that used to be her opponent. Ms. Golden week sat her back down on the picnic blanket and offered her a cup of tea. Apis took it gratefully. "These are some cool powers you have." Apis said taking a soothing sip of her tea. "Which fruit did you eat?" She asked making conversation with her new friend.

"I didn't eat a devil fruit." The girl said. Apis looked at her curiously. "I am a realist painter, I use the effects colors have on a person's psyche to affect them."

"Hmmm. That's interesting." Apis said taking another sip of tea. "Would you mind showing me?"

Ms. Golden week pulled out a drawing of the strange symbol she had been painting and showed it to Apis. This one was grey. "I designed this pattern myself, it's very good at hypnotizing people." She explained handing the paper to Apis. "Do you like art?"

"I do!" Apis said happily. Studying the design in her hand. "Although I like animals more. I used to paint Ryuuji's head during Easter (It did look like an egg.)" Apis said giggling.

"Do you want to paint with me?" Ms. Goldenweek asked almost sounding hopeful as she held out a brush to Apis.

"Sure!" Apis said taking the offered brush. She painted the pattern she had seen in yellow on a new piece of paper. Apis giggled when she looked at the end result and handed the paper to Ms. Golden week who also started laughing at the sight.

"Yellow- the color of laughter." She said through her giggles before dipping her brush into the red and painting over it. "Angry orange." She said before developing a frown. She handed the paper to Apis. Apis suddenly felt really angry.

"I'M PISSED!" She said tearing the paper in half. She felt much better afterwards. Apis took a new piece of paper and drew the symbol in blue. She felt like crying at the sight of it. "I miss Ryuuji" She said sadly.

"Blue the color of sadness." Ms. Goldenweek said before taking the paper and adding white to the paint. "Baby blue- the color of comfort." She said handing the paper back to Apis who sniffled quietly

"thank you." Apis took another piece of paper and Drew another yellow symbol. She felt much better as she burst into laughter.

"You are very good at this." Ms. Golden week observed they continued to swap colors until they were surrounded by many pages of different colored symbols.

"QWACK!" Apis looked over at the new arrival to see Carue.

"AH! Carue! Do you want to play too?" Apis asked

"QWACK!" Carue answered back with an angry expression.

"Why would I want to fight? It looks dangerous." Apis said to the duck looking pointedly at the ongoing confrontations.

"QWACK!" Carue snapped pointing a wing at Ms. Goldenweek.

"She's not an enemy. She's my friend!" Apis said placing her hands on her hips. "We are just playing with paint." Apis said angrily in defense of her new friend.

"Qwack…qwack…" Carue said before looking back at the fighting. "Qwack!" Carue said taking a seat next to Apis and taking the brush into his mouth.

Apis smiled. Now she could have fun with her friends.

-Usopp, Vivi and Nami Vs. Haku-

Usopp fired more stars at his adversary never succeeding in hitting them but he was unwilling to stop lest they take the opportunity to kill him. Usopp ran faster at the thought. He was starting to get tired though. He could feel himself slowing down. His lungs burned.

If he slowed down he would be caught. If he stopped he would die.

Usopp turned to fire another exploding star at the masked individual only to come face to face with nothing. Usopp turned around quickly facing the mirror that had formed in his path and that his masked adversary hid within.

He let loose the exploding star with a smile thinking he would finally be able to hit them. The mirror shattered and Usopp sighed in relief. It was short lived relief however as the figure emerged from one of the fragments throwing a handful of needles at him. Usopp raised his arms in front of his face to protect himself. The needles pierced him through his arms and a few lodged themselves in his legs.

Usopp did not stay still any longer to take the abuse as he turned to escape to the side only to come face to face with another mirror.

Usopp didn't even attempt to shatter this one in case he received another barrage for his trouble. He turned around to run in the opposite direction only to find another mirror. In fact…

Usopp turned again and again but found that he had been completely surrounded by the mirrors and the reflections of his enemy. "Demonic mirrors" Usopp heard a fairly masculine voice say. It was the first indication of any gender Usopp had received thus far. His opponent looked pretty feminine for a boy.

He fired Exploding star after exploding star attempting to break the mirrors and get away but they would only reform just as quickly. While he did this needles flew endlessly from every direction. It was all he could do to avoid most of them. There was no escape.

The brief pause in Usopp's barrage was all the opening his adversary needed. The rate at which the needles came increased and Usopp was unable to dodge them, all he could do was raise his arms and protect what he could from the deadly onslaught.

He felt needles pierce his arms. Dig deep into his legs and pierce him in the back. He was at least able to protect his head and neck but it was little comfort. Usopp already felt like a pin cushion.

Usopp fell to his knees and watched as the figure finally showed itself fully coming upon his downed form with a needle raised to end him

"Usopp!" He heard two voices shout as none other than Nami stepped in to intercept his enemy. She swung her quarter staff and landed a clean hit on the masked boy.

The boy stumbled away before retreating into another mirror.

"Usopp-san are you ok?" Vivi asked over him, helping him to his feet.

"You idiots! Why did you enter the mirrors! It's dangerous here!" Usopp yelled frantically as he fired another exploding star at a random mirror.

"We come to help you and this is the thanks we get?" Nami said. "Besides when did you become so noble?"

"I-it's o-only natural. I am going to become a brave warrior of the sea!" Usopp said defensively firing off more exploding stars. The mirrors just kept reforming no matter how many time he hit them however.

"right… right…" Nami said dismissively.

The needles came once more in great numbers forcing the girls to dodge or bat them away as best they could. Vivi had an easier time blocking the needles with her furiously spinning peacock slasher, she was even able to cover Usopp who continued firing his exploding stars. Nami did well avoiding the needles as she slammed her staff against the mirrors.

The barrage stopped and Usopp stopped firing his exploding stars. They had not come out of the onslaught unscathed as each of them had at least a few needles piercing them as well as several scratches where they had only just been able to dodge.

Usopp took a breath as he analyzed the situation. "It must take some effort for him to reform the mirrors he throws fewer needles when he is repairing them…"

"Wait… we are fighting a he?" Nami asked. "But he looks so feminine."

"but his code name is Ms. Mother's day." Vivi pointed out.

"I think he is a he." Usopp said.

"I am." The figure said from several mirrors at once.

"EH?" Nami, Vivi, and Usopp asked in surprise. "Really?"

"Is there a problem with that?" The boy said defensively.

"O-of course not." All three of them said together making soothing gestures.

"We have to break these mirrors." Usopp said. "The more we break the less he can attack us."

"Right!" Vivi and Nami said taking aggressive stances. This was going to be difficult.

-Luffy and Zoro vs. Zabuza-

"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE SWINGING THAT THING!" Zoro yelled angrily where he thought Luffy was. He had only just been able to get out of the way of that last attack.

"Ah. Sorry Zoro. I can't see anything in this mist." Luffy said presumably scratching his head but Zoro couldn't really tell.

"You're open." Zabuza said from behind Zoro. Zoro quickly rolled out of the way feeling the massive blade move over his head. He felt Luffy's swing and joined him in attacking the spot they had felt the blade had come from.

Luffy brought his Gunbai around to block an oncoming strike just in time. He didn't have much time to get a proper foothold and the force of the swing sent him back several feet. He felt a follow up coming from behind him but could not react fast enough to block. Luckily Zoro was there to cover his back. Zoro slashed with one of his free swords feeling it just graze something but it was not enough for Zoro to really consider himself to have made contact.

"**Fanned wind!**" Luffy shouted swinging his gunbai and blowing the mist around them. It thinned slightly and Zoro charged at the faint outline he had seen but the mist quickly closed back up and Zoro came up empty handed once again.

The sound of steal meeting steal was heard from behind him and Zoro felt the now familiar presence of Luffy land on his feet next to him.

"Tch. Without any way of FINDING him we can't do anything." Zoro said.

"But Zoro this mist is REALLY thick. Even I can't see anything!" Luffy said. Both jumped away as they felt a slight disturbance in the air between them, they once again dodged the massive blade by the skin of their teeth.

"We can't blow it away. We already tried that." Zoro said. "The mist just gets thick again."

"Then we have to attack him when he attacks us." Luffy said simply. Zoro thought about it and decided that it was actually a pretty good idea. Risky though. If they waited too long or missed it would be the end of them but they had absolutely no success in catching Zabuza after he had attacked.

"Alright." Zoro said once again standing back to back with Luffy. "We'll attack together." Zoro felt Luffy nod. Zoro tensed readying his blades; he tightened his jaw around the Wado Ichimonji.

They stood there tensed for the strike. Waiting for even the slightest of disturbances.

The tension continued to mount as nothing happened. All was quiet and there was nothing to see. Zoro felt he would go insane with boredom. As great as the tension was the battle had become a waiting game.

Nothing happened.

Zoro clenched his teeth in anger round the Wado Ichimonji. He could not be reckless however as it would result in his defeat.

The air shifted to their left. Just a little, Anyone else would never have even been noticed but to the two of them in their hyper aware state it was like a man shouting. They wasted no time in unleashing their attacks.

"MIGHTY GALE!"

"TATSU MAKI!"

A tornado was formed from the furious winds dispersing the mist and sending Zabuza high into the air. Luffy and Zoro did not end the fight at that as they could already see the mist begin to gather once more.

Luffy was the first to move jumping forward and locking weapons with Zabuza. Zoro jumped over Luffy's head bringing his swords down. "TORA GARI!" The blades dug into Zabuza's shoulder but he avoided most of the damage by jumping away.

"MIGHTY WAVE!" Luffy called slamming his gunbai into Zabuza's side. Zabuza was able to block the weapon but the force of the blow and shock-wave still sent him flying towards Zoro

"ONI GIRI!" Zoro attacked with all three of his blades as Zabuza came within range.

Zabuza landed on his feet some distance away from them, nothing remained of the mist save for a thin veil. Their vision was otherwise unobstructed. "Demon cutter, eh?" Zabuza said with a mirthless chuckle. "A fitting name considering you're opponent." Zabuza took a ready stance.

"Luffy. Leave the rest to me." Zoro said taking his own fighting stance opposite the Demon in the Mist. "Usopp and the girls look like they could use some help."

Luffy looked at his first mate for a time before nodding. "Don't lose." Luffy said before he sped off to help his trapped Nakama.

"It's just you and me then is it?" Zabuza asked a dark aura building around him.

"Yeah." Zoro said with a feral grin spreading across his face the Bandana shadowing his eyes and his own dark aura darkening the clearing further. "Let's say we end this."

"So be it." Zabuza said as both dark shrouds took the form of snarling demons.

"SANTOURYUU…"Zoro stated crossing his arms across his torso in preparation to unleash his attack.

Both combatants stood across from one another their respective demons snarling at one another.

At some unspoken signal they lunged at one another bringing their blades to bear upon their opponent.

-Luffy, Usopp, Vivi, and Nami Vs. Haku-

Even with how hard they were trying they could not stop the barrage of needles nor could they find another opportunity to hit their assailant.

They all sported even more needles puncturing them in several places throughout their bodies; Usopp in particular seemed to be more of a pincushion than a combatant at this point.

"Give up." Their opponent said simply during the brief reprieve he had granted them.

"Never!" Nami said angrily.

"Why do you fight? What gives you the strength to carry on even in your current state?" The masked boy asked.

"We will not let you hurt our Nakama!" they all answered immediately. "And I really don't feel like dying." Nami added as an afterthought.

"I see…" The figure was quiet for a time. "You will grow to become very strong, all of you." They were taken aback by the comment. "It is unfortunate however, I have no choice but to kill you."

"Can't you cut us a break?!" Nami yelled hoping that brief glimpse of kindness they had received would work in their favour.

"Unfortunately not. It is Zabuza-sama's orders." The boy said throwing another barrage of needles at them.

They never hit and there was no need for them to have to dodge as Luffy swatted them away with his weapon.

"Luffy!" They cheered in relief.

"Hey guys." Luffy said with a broad grin. "Wow you guys have a whole bunch of needles in you." He said poking at Usopp.

"That hurts you bastard!" Usopp yelled in anger.

"Four against one…" The masked boy said "It seems I can wait no longer, I must finish this now." The boy charged the group with his needles in hand ready to end them all in one fell swoop.

Luffy saw it coming easily and batted him away. Out of the mirrors and tumbling across the ground to land in a heap some distance from Zabuza's fight with Zoro. The mask that hid his face broken in pieces across the ground.

-end of fights-

Nami watched as Zoro ended his fight with Zabuza. Both of them came away from their clash with wounds but neither seemed ready to drop. Zabuza looked worse off but either from shear force of will or brute strength he remained on his feet.

"That wasn't enough Zoro." Zabuza said to his opponent. The ground shook as the Giant Brogy finally got up. "Seems we can't continue this fight. Haku!" The once masked boy, now named Haku, seemed to blur in a burst of speed to appear next to the wounded swordsman. "We will continue this some other time, Pirate hunter." Zabuza said as a thick fog obscured their view. When it cleared there was nothing there. Zabuza had escaped.

The sound of laughter reached their ears and they turned to see Apis and the other agent Ms. Goldenweek laughing over something that Carue had painted. Nami's brow twitched. Had they been playing the whole time the fights had been going on?

Nami took a deep breath and calmed herself, she knew Apis couldn't fight, it was actually a good thing that she had not participated. Nami was pulling needles out of her and they hurt quite a bit, she would never allow Apis to get into this kind of danger.

Still the fact that she was acting so chummy with the enemy was ticking her off.

"Apis… What are you doing?" She asked with a deceptively sweat smile on her face.

"I am learning how to paint! Ms. Goldenweek is teaching me!" Apis said with a broad smile. Nami felt her anger dissipate at the sight.

"Why are you learning to paint from the enemy?" She asked.

"Ms. Goldenweek isn't the enemy. She's my friend. Right?" Apis asked looking to the officer agent. Ms. Goldenweek just nodded though she seemed to smile somewhat when she saw that the symbol on Apis's shirt was smudged.

"If you say so I will trust you for now." Nami said warily.

Brogy and everyone present got the scare of a life time when Dory suddenly got up. It startled them but at least everything was alright.

Nami winced scratching at a bug bite on her stomach, it was nothing especially painful in comparison to all the needles she still had stuck in her. She was going to be pulling needles out of places needles had no right to be for a while.

-END-

**Ok so this chapter is crazy long. it is a combination of two chapters. I edited it as best I could. I probably missed a lot of spelling and grammatical errors but i fixed most of the story progression stuff anyways.**

**I made Zabuza pretty strong but what gave Luffy and Zoro trouble was not his sheer ability just the fog. So while Zabuza might be strong, he is probably about on par if not slightly weaker than Zoro is currently in the story.**

**Ms. Golden Week doesn't join the crew. just gave Apis some pointers in coloring. for the first half or so of Paradise Apis will be a noncombatant for the most part. not useless. she will use some of the color stuff in self defense but it does not really make for good offensive capabilities. it is important for Apis's Character arch that she continues to feel like the youngest and most vulnerable member.**

**Haku's fruit allows her to conjure glass. I forgot what name I gave it.**

**Zabuza has the ability to create mist and as was stated is the master of the silent killing technique and has attempted to pass on the technique to others including Kuro. Luffy's own stealth foot will improve due to the encounter.**

**speaking of. while it may seem that the straw hats came out of the battle in a much worse position than most would be ok with this experience will make them stranger. so it isn't really a loss.**


	7. Chapter 7

Sanji stood with Vivi and Apis by Nami's side. Sanji could not help but lament his uselessness in this situation.

Nami was ill, deathly ill.

As much as he would love to be able to make food that would cure her he knew that he simply could not. For all the knowledge of nutrition he possessed he simply had no way of diagnosing Nami's illness. Considering they had come from a prehistoric island the illness could be literally anything and more. It could be Jurassic dengue for all he knew.

Vivi wiped the sweat from Nami's brow once again and re-wet the towel.

"How is she?" Sanji asked for the tenth time.

"Not good. A fever of forty degrees is serious. If we can't find an island soon…" Vivi trailed off bighting her lip, she looked troubled unbelievably so. Sanji knew what she meant though, Nami could die.

Sanji looked back at the newspaper that Nami had pulled out, over three hundred thousand soldiers defecting to the rebel's side was serious, and the brutal response from one Gaara of the Bloody Sand wasn't helping any. It was surprising and noble of Vivi to put aside the disturbing news so that their nakama could find help.

"Nami Onee-san…" Apis said quietly in worry. A pile of papers sat by her side and a multitude of crumpled balls of paper overflowed from the bin in the corner. Before Nami had shown signs of illness the small girl had been painting nonstop. She had stopped when Nami had collapsed and had evidently been too worried to clean up.

Suddenly the ship started to rock violently. Sanji thought quickly, grabbing the bed and lifting it from the floor so that the rocking did not disturb Nami, in her condition she didn't need anything else to add to her condition.

Placing the bed down, he caught the sound of laughter, but not his Nakama's. The voice was arrogant and sounded like it was being amplified by loudspeakers. "Vivi-Chan, Apis-Chan, Stay here, I'll see what's happening!" Sanji said rushing upstairs

Reaching the door to the deck he wasted no time in opening it and getting his first look at the situation. Sanji stopped. Looked around. Then sighed.

He dug into his pockets and pulled out a cigarette and a lighter, it was situations like these, _annoying _situations like these that perpetuated his habit. He took a deep drag and reveled in the feeling of the warm smoke filling his lungs. He was feeling less irritated now at least. "So? What exactly is happening here?"

"We are being attacked." Luffy said from his position surrounded by armed soldiers. They were all surrounded by soldiers with guns pointed in at them, a lot of guns.

"Yeah. I thought as much." Honestly Sanji was disappointed, his crew-mates should have had no trouble repelling these bastards, not to mention how they let such a massive ship close enough for them to be bordered without even giving those that had remained downstairs any warning.

"Is this really a pirate ship?" The same arrogant voice that Sanji had heard previously asked. He looked over to see a very round man who appeared to have metal plates nailed to him. he was eating a piece of meat off of a knife. "No matter how you look at it there are just far too few of you." with that he took a bite out of the knife and continued chewing like it was just a normal meal.

The sound was like glass being crushed and nails on a chalk board all at once and Sanji cringed as the horrible noise assaulted his ears. He had seen Luffy bite through knives as a party trick but to see what Sanji only assumed was a human being actually eat one was an entirely diferent matter.

"It hurts just watching him!" Usopp exclaimed. Sanji supposed that that comment summed up the experience nicely.

"Oh well…" The man continued, swallowing what remained of the knife. "I suppose I have to ask. Do any of you perchance have an eternal pose to the drum kingdom?"

"Drum kingdome?" Sanji murmured in confusion.

"Never heard of it now get off my ship! we are in a hurry!" Luffy said angrily.

"Now now, you shouldn't rush through life like that." The rotund man said. "By the way I am feeling a tad peckish so… hehehe… If you would excuse me." The man's mouth opened impossibly wide and proceeded to take a bite out of their ship.

Luffy understandably was pissed.

Sanji didn't even get the opportunity to look back in his direction before Luffy had closed the gap and sent the round man flying into the distance along with a good number of soldiers that had been standing a tad too close to their apparent leader.

Sanji waited for no other signal as he kicked the group that was surrounding him to the ground, he felt bones break beneath his heavy blows and was satisfied with the effect. Zoro came down from the crow's nest and cut down the soldiers that had surrounded Usopp. The entire encounter had hardly taken more than a few seconds and left those still watching dumbfounded.

"SHIT! Wapol -sama is a hammer in the water!" A weird guy with a zigzag mouth said with a face of worry and shock.

"We have to go get him before he sinks!" The orange one with the afro said beside him.

The soldiers quickly retreated carrying their wounded comrades with them.

"Remember us!" They yelled back.

"We will get you for this!"

"REMEMBER US!"

Sanji and the rest of the crew stared angrily after the retreating clowns. For that was really all they were, clowns.

-o0O0o-

Sanji sat in the crow's nest. The smoke from his cigarette drifting off into the breeze. A light mist clung to the water, a morning fog. It was thankfully not so thick that he couldn't see the horizon though.

It would have been a beautiful morning if it wasn't for Nami's illness. And the fact that it was really damn Cold! It was also still very early in the morning, not even sun-sunrise though the morning blush was slowly creeping across the sky.

The sound of a hammer drifted to his ears. Looking down Sanji saw that it was none other than Usopp patching up the large whole that Wapol had bitten out of their ship. "Oi Usopp you're up early." Sanji said

"I can't in good conscience leave the Merry in a state like this. And with the situation as it is I can't very well leave it for later." Usopp answered back a couple of nails hanging from his mouth.

A door opened below and Sanji was surprised to see their youngest come out onto the deck

"Apis?" Usopp asked in confusion. Sanji was likewise confused. "What are you doing up so early?"

"I want to keep watch! We have to find an island quick right? Nami one-san needs help!" Apis answered back, with a slightly challenging look as if Usopp had implied that she shouldn't be up so early because she was young.

"Good on you Apis-chan." Sanji called down. "But let me stay to help you, I got a little bit of sleep last night so I can keep going." Sanji said. Apis nodded.

"Oi Apis while you're up here do you want to help me fix the Merry?" Usopp asked. Sanji was about to berate Usopp for even suggesting a girl do manual labor but he stopped himself when he saw how eagerly she jumped at the chance to help. He supposed that they all just needed something to keep them busy during these tough times.

Sanji took a deep drag from his cigarette as he watched them work; taking a glance at the horizon periodically to make sure he didn't miss anything. A pod of orca emerged from the water only a few short meter's from their ship, normal sized orca thankfully.

Apis immediately snapped her head up towards them. Sanji supposed that considering her power that she was having a conversation with the creatures. Apis looked up towards him. "Sanji we need to give them our meat!" Apis said urgently.

Sanji felt he should say something about wasting food but the urgency of her tone made it obvious that this "transaction" was important. "Ok let me just grab it. Sanji said jumping right down to the deck and entering the kitchen. He grabbed five or six human sized slabs of dinosaur meat before walking back onto the deck.

Sanji threw a few over bored at Apis's insistence. There was silence for a time as the pod devoured the chucks of meat. Apis stared at them for a time a look of concentration and frustration coming to her face after a time Apis nodded with a broad smile. "You can give them the rest now!" Apis said happily.

"You realize Luffy isn't going to be happy when he finds out all the meat is gone." Sanji said half-jokingly.

"That's ok. We'll just tell him that he ate it." Apis said eliciting stifled laughter from Usopp and a smile from Sanji. "But Luffy would probably be happier to know that there is an island nearby!" Apis said pointing off the port side. "It's that way only a few miles!" She said.

"I'll go adjust our course." Sanji said as he went inside to man the rudder.

As he adjusted their course Vivi and Zoro came up from downstairs . Vivi gave him an odd look when she notice that Sanji was changing their course. "What's happening? Did you see an island?" Vivi asked. Zoro looked surprisingly eager for the news as well though he didn't say anything.

"No." Sanji said. Vivi frowned at the statement and Zoro frowned more. He cut them off before they could make a comment. "Apis found out when a nearby island is located, we should get there before noon." Sanji assured them.

Vivi sighed in relief. "I'm glad, I don't want to think about what would happen if Nami were to remain ill like this any longer"

-o0O0o-

Luffy looked around. When he had heard from his crew that they were nearing an island he had been ecstatic. He could finally get Nami the care she needed.

He had thought anyway.

The Locals had them surrounded, a very large number of guns pointed at them. Luffy wasn't particularly worried. None of them actually looked like they could use them.

Still the very poor reception did not bode well.

A very large man in armor stepped forward. "Pirates. I hereby demand that you depart these shores. You are not welcome here." This roused several villagers to voice their agreement in the form of further threats. Luffy was still unperturbed by the very pathetic display. The village people were no threat to him but if they made a scene here than there would be no hope of saving Nami.

"We are looking for a doctor." Luffy said simply, trying his hardest to remain nonthreatening.

"One of our Nakama is deathly ill! She needs help!" Vivi said.

"Liars! You think we are going to fall for that trick?" One of the more jumpy looking villager's said pointing his gun at Vivi. That isn't good, if he accidently let a shot off…

Sanji sighed. "They really hate us, and we only just met too."

"KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!" the jumpy one shouted pulling the trigger and sending a bullet into the planks at Sanji's feet.

Sanji understandably got pissed. Taking a step forward to confront the man. Vivi stopped him. "Sanji wait don't-" Her sentence was cut off when another gunshot was heard, once again Jumpy had pulled the trigger.

Luffy watched as Vivi hit the deck. "Vivi!" Luffy yelled in panic.

To everyone there the air suddenly felt cold. It was not the rosy cheeked chill that came on the wind and caressed the skin, it was a cold that reached down into the pit of their stomachs and rattled their bones.

Luffy looked at Vivi and consciously held himself back as best he could, he wanted to turn and teach these fools the error of their ways, to have shot an innocent woman only thinking of the safety of their crew… But Luffy had to think of these things as well. As much as he wished to do harm to these people who had hurt his nakama he knew that if he were to attack them Nami would never get the care she needed.

Luffy opted to Run to Vivi's side instead, the dread that had settled over everyone vanishing as he let his anger die down with his killing intent. "Vivi! Are you OK? Say something."

"Luffy… You mustn't attack them. I am alright. It just grazed me." Vivi said sitting up with assistance from Zoro who had come to stand by his nakama, he kept a hand on his swords though. Vivi bowed to the villagers, an action that brought a look of distaste to Zoro's face but he evidently saw the wisdom in the action. "If you do not want us here that is fine, we will leave, but Please help our comrade first!" Vivi said.

Luffy looked at her for a time before getting into a similar position next to her. "I beg you… Save my Nakama."

There was silence as the man in armor looked down upon them, Luffy didn't notice.

It was a very long moment.

"I will lead you to our village." The man said finally

-o0O0o-

Luffy Reached forward grabbing another hand hold in the sheer cliff face. His jaw ached from gripping Sanji's coat in his mouth. He could feel the biting cold and harsh winds clawing at his skin. He had given his coat to Nami, she needed it more than he did.

He pulled himself up and reached again for a hand hold.

His arms trembled from the strain, he was grateful at least that he couldn't take his Gunbai with him, that extra weight would have spelled their doom. He was confident in his ability to wield it but he couldn't fight when he had to think of Nami's health and climbing up the mountain was already hard enough with Apis and Nami on his back, he didn't need the weight of his weapon adding to it.

Once more he pulled himself up.

Dalton had told them of the witch that lived at the top of the mountain, He had also told them of the fearsome Lapahn that prowled the base of the mountain. It was Apis who came forward saying that she would be able to convince them not to attack. She had, only after they had caused an avalanche but she had eventually been able to calm them, they had even helped when Wapol had shown up.

It had been Luffy that made the decision to climb the mountain. He was not wavering in his resolve to see it through to the end. Turning back wasn't an option.

Luffy continued his climb, ignoring the winds and the feeling of his nails starting to bleed. He had to find a doctor, for Nami and Sanji. There could be no other thought.

The going was slow, but steady; nothing would get in his way. If he slowed down his nakama would die, if he turned back they would die, and if he stopped to rest they would die. Their only hope was for him to continue upward

Blood ran in rivulets down his arm, the tips of his fingers nothing more than ragged and bloody lumps. But he did not scream. There was no pain, only cold. His body was numb and if Luffy had paid any attention to his own condition he would have noticed the blackness creeping in from the corner of his vision.

At the top of the mountain a blue nose turned up to sniff the breeze, many of the scents that came to him were unfamiliar but one stood out among the others, Blood

The owner of the nose decided it was best to follow it. walking out of the castle and making his way to the edge of the cliff he watched as a man in a straw hat hoisted himself and three others up onto the snowbank at the edge of the peek.

Just looking at them from where he stood he could tell that they were in poor condition. The small girl at least was not severely injured but she was unconscious.

"DOCTOR!" The man in the straw hat yelled before he collapsed.

Deciding that everything was safe for the time being the blue nose rushed forward to get the newcomers before they succumbed to the cold. He couldn't very well leave them as they were.

They had called for a doctor after all.

-o0O0o-

Chopper walked into the dark room where the patients were resting. The orange haired woman was in a different room. He walked around checking on them individually to make sure they all had what they needed.

Chopper changed the bandages on the hands and feet of the straw hat guy, noting with some surprise that the wounds already appeared to be mended well beyond what a normal person would have recovered in the same time.

Out of curiosity he checked the blond man's injuries as well and found that his broken ribs were already mending . Chopper wasn't sure if it was doctrine's treatment or if these two individuals had some sort of monstrous ability to recover.

As it was they would probably be up and about in only a few hours, granted not completely healed but more than healthy enough to stand at least.

Shaking his head in mild bafflement Chopper went over to the last occupant, the small girl. Unlike the others there didn't seem to be anything really wrong with her. She was suffering from mild exposure to the cold and exhaustion, both of which had been treated hours ago without complication, all it needed was a little rest after all.

Chopper rested his hoof against the girls head to make sure she wasn't coming down with a fever, he was satisfied to note that she was not.

The girl stirred slightly, a small frown coming to her face.

Chopper made to back up but was stopped by the girl as she reached out and pulled him close. Chopper was panicking as he made to break free from the girl's grasp. He stopped however when he noticed that the girl was still asleep, burying her face into his fur. "so soft…" The small girl murmured in her sleep.

Chopper wondered what she would actually say if she saw what she was holding. He was a freak, he was a reindeer who could speak and walk upright. And he had a blue nose. He was a monster. No one would welcome him.

"how sad…" The girl murmured squeezing him tighter. Chopper looked and saw that the girl was still asleep. He dismissed her murmurings as just dreams but made no move to escape the girl. He didn't get much contact with others. there was nothing wrong with accepting a little bit of comfort, even if the giver didn't know what they were doing.

-o0O0o-

Nami opened her eyes slowly. She could feel something cold pressed against her forehead and warmth enveloping her.

She was safe and warm, she hazily remembered Luffy suggesting something that she would normally never agree to. She even remembered Sanji and Apis volunteering to come. Nami was trying to remember what exactly it was she had agreed to and why she hadn't objected to Apis's involvement.

It eventually dawned on Nami and she cursed herself for ever even imagining it was a good idea. She was going to have a good long talking to with her captain when she got out of bed.

The sound of stone scraping against stone reached her ears. It was a regular sound. Nami quickly associated it with a mortar and pestle. Sitting up and moving the ice pack from her head she looked in the direction of the noise.

What greeted her was the sight of a small antlered… something. "Who's there?" She asked drawing it's attention.

The something turned suddenly, its face a mask of surprise. It knocked over a whole lot of books .

It scrambled around in its haste to hide eventually taking "cover" behind a wall. Though its entire body was visible as the small, admittedly very cute, something only hid part of its face.

Nami looked at it for a time before deciding it best to voice her thoughts. "Isn't that… Backwards?" She asked.

The something seemed to realize what she had said as it quickly hid the rest of its body behind the wall. "It's too late for that. And anyway I can see you." Nami pointed out simply. "Who are you?"

"SHUT UP, HUMAN!" the thing yelled suddenly catching her off-guard. "By the way, how is your fever?"

"IT SPOKE!" Nami wasn't sure why this surprised her; she had asked it a question after all.

The creature seemed to be genuinely frightened and overly surprised by her outburst as it backpedalled into the room behind it, the sounds of crashing and metal implements hitting the floor. "Settle down Chopper!" The voice of an old woman was heard from a different room.

The dust that had been kicked up in the little creatures panic settled to reveal an old woman, or at least she appeared to be an old woman, she had what appeared to be a young body but her face was clearly that of a _really_ old crone, a witch even.

"Well it would seem that you're fever has gone down a bit, little girl. Aren't you grateful?" The old woman asked

"Eh? Who are you?" Nami asked the mysterious witch.

The witch didn't answer her as she moved her hand so that a single finger was pressed against Nami's forehead. Nami felt the need to back away from the contact but the finger just followed her movements, even as the crone took a large gulp of whatever liquid was in that bottle of hers.

"38.2 degrees, that is tolerable." She said. Nami was wondering how the woman had been able to take such an accurate reading of her temperature with only her finger. "I am a doctor. Doctor kureha. But you will call me Doctorine."

"You're a doctor?" Nami asked, snippets of a barely remembered conversation appeared in her head, Dalton saying something about a witch that lived on the top of the mountain. Well the woman did look like a witch. So that must mean.

"You wish to know the secret of my youth?" The doctor asked.

Nami blinked but dismissed it, she was used to stranger things. "No, I didn't ask." Nami thought a little while before looking back at the doctor. "There were three people with me. Where are they?"

"Those three? Sleeping soundly in the other room. Honestly those two are tough." The doctor said taking another swig of her mystery drink.

"And Apis!? The little girl?" Nami asked in worry as the witch had not mentioned what Apis's state of health was.

"She only required rest, she is quite alright." Doctrine said. "You on the other hand…" The doctor sat down and lifted Nami's shirt revealing a strange purple mark. "This is the source of your illness. A parasitic insect called a kestia, they went extinct a hundred years ago. It carries a certain type of bacteria that once inside the body germinates over a five day period causing the host incredible pain. Symptoms include a fever exceeding 40 degrees, aching joints, sore throat, and inflammation of the brain." The witch said, the list of symptoms caused Nami to gulp, they all seemed fairly mild… but that last one... "From the looks of it the disease has only been germinating for three days, if you had waited two more days you wouldn't have to worry about the pain."

"Why is that?" Nami asked, had Luffy climbed a mountain so she could get treated for a disease that would have calmed down anyway.

"You would have been dead." Doctorine said. Nami backed away from the woman slightly a look of complete shock written on her face. "They call it the five day disease, but like I said before it's been extinct for a hundred years. What did you do walk around a prehistoric island with your belly showing?" The doctor asked. From her tone Nami could tell it was supposed to be a joke, Nami however couldn't help but go over her memories of Little Garden and she had in fact been showing her belly. The doctor noticed the face she was making and walked over. "You wouldn't know something about that would you?" she asked looking very unimpressed.

"Well I am better now." Nami said making to get out of bed but was interrupted and violently pushed back.

"You can't leave. The nature of the disease requires that you stay to rest at least three days." Doctorine said

"Three day!" Nami exclaimed making to get out of bed once more. "I can't stay that long! I have to get Vivi to Arabasta!"

Nami was interrupted at the doctor all but pounced on her pinning her to the bed with a scalpel at her throat. "Listen here girly, there are only two ways a patient leaves my care. They either get better. Or they die. Do you understand?" She asked her voice dangerously low. Nami looked down in fear at the blade.

What kind of insane doctor was this?

Nami hesitantly nodded and Docorine got off of her but remained watching her as if she would try and escape. Nami pulled the covers up to her chin as a way of reassuring the woman. If Doctorine was going to say something about the action she didn't get the chance.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! SAVE ME!" The voice of the small furry something Nami had seen before was heard from the other room. It soon came running out into the room with both Luffy and Sanji holding tight to it.

"WAIT! MEAT!"

"OI LUFFY! LET ME COOK IT FIRST!"

"LET GO HUMAN'S!"

Nami watched on bewildered as the trio ran passed for the second time. Luffy seemed to finally notice her. He was wearing his blue jeans but his vest and captains coat were missing. "AH! Nami! You're alright!"

"Thanks to you, captain." Nami said smiling at him. Nami started to think, there was something she was going to yell at him about. What was it? The small form of Apis came into the room. Oh that's right. "Luffy… Why did you let Apis come on such a dangerous trio?" Nami asked dangerously.

"She said she wanted to." Luffy said simply. Nami was about to lay into her captain when Apis noticed that she was awake.

"Nami!" She said with a smile as she all but tackled Nami. Nami returned the hug, forgetting her anger for the time being.

"Ah Nami, You're awake. Just hold on I'll whip up a nice venison dish to speed up you're recovery." Sanji said entering back into the room. Nami noticed that the small something was trying to sneak by behind them, it was unfortunate for it that the two boys spotted it.

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" They yelled chasing after the creature and causing a great deal of noise.

Nami and Apis watched as the chase began once more. Nami was still confused as to what that thing was. "What is that blue nosed stuffed talking reindeer?" Nami asked.

Doctorine just down the hall after the retreating trio. "His name is Chopper. And he is just a normal blue nosed reindeer."

"But reindeer don't talk." Nami said.

"He can talk?" Apis asked looking up at Nami from where she sat on Nami's lap.

"Yeah, he can. He asked how my fever was doing." Nami said.

"There is one difference between him and other reindeer. He has eaten the Hito hito no mi, and has gained the abilities of a human.

"One of the devil fruits." Apis said.

"Yeah. And besides that I have pounded every ounce of my medical skill into him." Doctorine said in a voice filled with pride.

-o0O0o-

"Chopper! Hey! Wait up!" Apis yelled after the small deer. She had wanted to talk to him ever since Doctorine had told her and Nami about him. since then Apis couldn't help but feel the wounds that Doctorine had been referring to, she hadn't been exaggerating, they were serious wounds. And besides that Apis thought the little guy was cute.

She had thought that she had a chance to speak with him when he had come in to close Nami's door. Unfortunately her two simpleminded crew-mates had barged in initiating again the chase with the addition of Apis.

"NO! Go away human!" Chopper yelled back at her. Apis ran alongside Chopper at this point so they had both turned to look at each other as they ran. Evidently thy both saw something in the corner of their eye as they both looked over their shoulders to get a better look.

They both screamed and ran faster. Though for different reasons, Chopper because Luffy and Sanji were gaining on them and Apis because doctor Kureha was right behind them with a very large assortment of weapons on her person.

Apis channeled her inner Usopp and picked up her speed Chopper seemed to shift forms becoming what she could more easily recognize as a deer and started running faster himself. Apis's inner Usopp must have been great because she was able to keep pace with the deer fairly easily, nothing like the fear of homicidal grannies to put a spring in once step.

They ran for some time before the sounds of pursuit died down. Apis and chopper stopped to catch their breaths. The was silence between them it was kind of awkward.

"How did you know my name?" Chopper finally asked looking suspiciously at her.

Apis just smiled, finding the expression very non-threatening. "Doctorine told us, though it doesn't seem like my nakama heard." Apis said.

Chopper looked at her for a time, the conversation lapsing back into silence. "You're pirates?" he asked finally.

"Yup." Apis said with a bright and cheery smile.

"Real ones?"

"Real ones." Apis confirms.

"Do you have a skull and cross bones flag?"

"A jolly roger? Yeah, it's on our ship." Apis said looking at Chopper curiously. "Are you interested in pirates?"

"NO WAY!" Chopper said scuttling back from her. "NO WAY I WOULD! IDIOT!"

"O-oh. Ok. Sorry." Apis said slightly taken aback. There was another moment of silence between them. Apis was the one to break it this time. "You were the one that helped Nami, Right?"

Chopper looked at her suspiciously but nodded all the same.

"Thank you." Apis said with a bright smile.

"IDIOT! YOU DON"T NEED TO THANK ME! *It's not like it would make me happy! Bastard. Hehah.*" Chopper said alternating between shouting and doing a little happy dance as he spoke. Apis couldn't help but giggle at the scene.

"Since you are a doctor why don't you come with us?" Apis offered getting a shocked look from the deer. "To sea I mean."

"DON"T BE STUPID WHY THE HELL WOULD I WANT TO GO THE SEA WITH HUMANS! I AM A REINDEER YOU KNOW!" Chopper said. Apis's smile disappeared, not because of what was said but because of the feelings she was sensing in the small creature, fear and uncertainty, loneliness, pain, loss. Apis almost felt like crying. "Aren't you scared of me?"

"No." Apis said.

"But I am a reindeer that can talk and stand on two legs… and my nose is blue." Chopper said looking incredibly dejected. Apis got flashes of a heard of Deer all of them ignoring a small little blue nosed fawn struggling to keep up in the back.

"But I think your nose is cute." Apis said. "I won't hate you just because its blue."

"LIAR!" Chopper shouted

"No! Honestly!" Apis said back. "It was lonely wasn't it?" Apis said in a softer voice, causing Chopper to stiffen slightly. "Not having any nakama."

Chopper sniffed, looking to be on the verge of tears. "SHUT UP HUMAN!" He said before getting up and running off. Apis sat there watching him leave. She wished she knew how to help him.

-o0O0o-

The story of Chopper and Doctor Hiluluk. The tale of a dying country. Of a people that were suffering. And the incurable stupidity that was the source of this suffering.

Unknown to those the story was meant for Luffy had heard every detail. He would be lying if he said he understood everything but he got the basic idea at any rate. Wapol was a stupid and evil king, and laughed at Choppers surrogate father.

It was unfortunate.

It was unfortunate for Wapol that he walked into Luffy's line of sight. Standing out in the snow.

Luffy allowed his eyes to turn red.

-o0O0o-

Chopper looked across at his enemies, the former king of Drum Wapol and his royal guard, no a walking cannibalistic house and an odd monstrosity of a fusion.

"are you kidding me? One is just standing on the other's shoulders." The blond haired man spoke, the chef of the pirates they had been helping, the one that had been trying to cook him for the majority of his stay.

"Don't let your guard down." Doctorine said in a warning tone. "If they were as weak as they looked their doctor hunt would never have worked. The people could have just united against them."

Chopper himself had never had the chance of seeing them actually fight, let alone as a single entity but he knew better than to disregard his teacher's advice. Chopper widened his stance, preparing his small body ready to fight at a moment's notice.

"Drum kingdom's number one rule: Those that disobey the king die!" Wapol said loudly, bringing Chopper's attention back to the very large bulk that was the corrupt king. "Because this is MY country and MY castle, the last thing I will ever allow is for that lousy coot of a doctor's flag to defile it!" Wapol said fining one of his canons.

Chopper tracked the projectile as it flew through the air, he already knew where it was heading, he just hoped that it would miss.

It did not.

Luffy, the over enthusiastic boy who had at first tried to eat him and then tried to recruit him, also watched as the canon ball exploded and the flag began to fall. "A pirate flag…" He said almost in wonder. "It was your father's wasn't it?" He asked, shocking Chopper at his knowledge.

Chopper did not bother asking how he had known that instead he let his anger guide him as he rat head long towards the one that had defiled the Doctor's mark. "YOU! That was the doctor's flag!" He yelled as he ran forward in his small body towards the foul man. Using his size to his advantage he was able to slip passed 'chessmarimo' and leap up to grab Wapol changing his size mid leap. "He was trying to save you! you selfish…" Chopper said as he reared his fist back to deliver a punch but stopped. His father had told him not to hat humans, that the country was sick, that wapol was sick. How could chopper bring his wrath to bear on a sick person. Wapol looked at him confused as the hit never came. "I won't hit you…" Chopper said. "As long as you leave this country and never return." Chopper said with finality.

"Chopper! What are you doing! Do you honestly think you can reason with a person like him?" Doctorine yelled at him.

"But…" Chopper said turning slightly away from Wapol, he was never able to finish his sentence as he was blasted away from the man landing heavily in the snow. Chopper shakily brought his head up to look at the man expecting a degrading comment to come, it even looked as if wapol would live up to this expectation had another voice not cut in.

"OI BIG MOUTH!" it was the voice of Luffy and it was strangely coming from the sky. Chopper turned his attention upward and saw that Luffy was not in the sky but simply on the roof. His straw hat shadowed his eyes. Chopper also noticed with some shock that the flag once again flew behind him. One of the sleaves of the winter jaket he wore was torn off, having been used to secure the flag.

"You were lying when you said you were a pirate." He said simply. "You probably don't even know the meaning of this flag!?" He said.

"What is he…?" Chopper half wondered aloud as he looked up at the pirate.

"The meaning of that flag? You hippo! That flag has no meaning! It's just a pirate ornament!" wapol said arrogantly.

"That is why I am going to kick your ass. To fly a pirate flag as a joke. It's disgusting." Luffy said with conviction and venom in his voice. "If this is a flag you pledge your life to you don't fly it as a JOKE!" Luffy looked up the shadows cast by his hat lifting just enough for all to see what they had hidden. Red. Red eyes stared down at them full of rage and conviction. They were the eyes of a monster but before all other things they were the eyes of a pirate.

"THIS ISN'T A FLAG YOU CAN JUST LAUGH AT! THE SKULL AND CROSSBONES ARE A SYMBOL OF CONVICTION!" Luffy yelled. Chopper could feel it, that what this man said was irrefutable, that it was a declaration that couldn't be questioned. This was the conviction of a pirate. This was far more than chopper had ever dreamed a pirate would be.

"Amazing." Chopper said aloud. Not noticing the shaken and angry appearance of their enemies. Not until the sound of cannon fire once again resounded from behind him. Chopper once more watched the cannon ball fly through the air, it target was Luffy. "WATCH OUT!" Chopper yelled in warning but Luffy made no move to avoid the projectile. Chopper's heart sank as the cannon ball closed the distance. And then…

Luffy caught it.

Chopper's jaw fell. And then fell some more, making its own mark in the snow, as Luffy threw the ball back at Wapol.

With his greater bulk Wapol was apparently too slow to move out of the way as the returned projectile hit him squarely in the face causing him to fall to the ground.

"WAPOL-SAMA!" The monstrous fusion yelled in its vaguely disturbing dual voice.

Unfortunately what Wapol lacked in speed he made up for in durability as He lifted one of his canons to point at Luffy. "HOW DARE YOU! Catching my shot!" He bellowed. "Fine! Be that way. You can't catch all of them!" He said as he leveled his other arm at Luffy. "NOW DIE!" he yelled

"STOP IT!" Chopper shouted leaping forward with his fist reared back, this time fully intending to let his blow land upon the corrupt king. It was unfortunate that it never got the chance to land.

"Wapol-Sama! Look out!" the hideously dual toned voice shouted as its owner stepped between chopper and the downed form of Wapol. Chopper's fist was stopped, not pushing his opponent back even in the slightest. He took some pride in the fact that it required all four of his opponents arms to block his punch however. Chopper took a step back allowing his form to shrink down into the one he was most comfortable with, his small body. "What a strange creature you are. You must be that abominable snowman the peasants were making a fuss about all those years ago. What a freak. You probably haven't made a single friend in all your life!"

"Shut up!" Chopper shouted back. "I may not have any friends but I can still fight!"

"You DO have friends!" A voice spoke, it was Luffy's. It was a lot closer than he had expected to hear it. in fact. The form of the straw hat wearing pirate speed passed delivering a right hook to the monstrous fusion, sending it flying back to crash into Wapol knocking them all over once again. Luffy stood up with his fist raised and a smile on his face looking back at Chopper. "This is what a friend is." He said, his grin widening. He caught sight of something behind Chopper and quirked an eyebrow in confusion. "Oi, Sanji why are you on the ground?"

"Because this old witch won't get off of me!" Sanji yelled. The sound of bones crunching was heard and the distinctive voice of doctorine giving an angry "Shut up!" to his protests

Luffy just shrugged.

"Hey, Reindeer." He said snapping Chopper out of his daze. "Think you can finish that guy off?" He asked pointing to the fused monstrosity.

"No problem." Chopper said with new found confidence and determination.

"Then it's settled. My opponent will be Big Mouth!" Luffy said turning back to the no standing king.

-o0Luffy vs. Wapol0o-

True to his promises, the reindeer was able to defeat the cool fusion guy. But Luffy had not expected or was even prepared for Chopper's seven level transformation.

He was so caught up in his new friend's fight that he had almost missed Wapol trying to sneak into the castle. Nami was in there, and she was still sick.

It was a good thing he did notice then.

"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING!?" Luffy yelled as he closed the distance between him and the annoying big mouth too quickly for the lumbering mass to react. He had been doing that a lot Luffy noticed. He just chalked it up to Wapol being week and left it at that.

Wapol himself was blindsided by Luffy, taking a long and painful tumble across the snow before colliding with the castle walls. He was still for a good few minutes before he finally started to pull himself from the whole he had made in the wall. "You straw hatted bastard! How dare you strike a king!"

"I don't care who you are!" Luffy yelled as he delivered a kick to Wapol's gut leaving a foot shaped imprint right next to the fist shaped one from earier. "Like that matters. This is a fight!" He dlivered a punch to wapol's gut again, this time unhinging the door that Wapol had in his stomach. Carried by his momentum Luffy fell through the opening and found himself in a dark place.

"Where am I?" luffy asked not realizing he was inside wapol. It was a very dark place. It was also moist and smelled weird.

Luffy didn't like it.

Rearing his fist back he sent a powerful straight jab at what he assumed to be the wall right in front of him. Luffy heard a wet SPLAT sound as his fist collided with something soft and slimy; it also burned a little bit. Luffy could hear muffled shouting coming from outside but paid it no heed.

Luffy reared his fist back finding the place more and more uncomfortable by the second, this time putting more force behind his fist. The whole "room" shook as he felt the "wall" give beneath his fist. The shouting grew louder and more incoherent, more like screaming now if Luffy was to pay it any mind.

Luffy decided he really didn't like this place and decided it was time to pull out all the stops; he wanted to get out now. He reared his fist back once more this time widening his stance, the tension building in his muscles. "**METEOR IMPACT!**" Luffy yelled as he let his punch fly.

It impacted the wall where it was met by a split second of resistance before with a massive groan and a wet snapping sound it blew outwards. Luffy Leaped through the new opening. A loud thud came from behind him but he dismissed it as whatever building he had been in collapsing. He immediately got into a battle stance and looked around for Wapol. He couldn't see him anywhere.

What he did see were his friends looking at him with rather green faces. The mean old lady didn't look sick like the others but she did seem extremely weirded out if the puzzled and slightly disgusted look on her face was anything to go by. "Where is he?!" Luffy asked fearing Wapol had done something.

"What?" The old lady asked raising her already arched brow even higher.

"Wapol! Where is he?" Luffy asked again

"You mean you didn't do that on purpose?" The lady asked looking a tiny bit relieved.

"Do what?" Luffy asked. He noticed that Sanji and Chopper seemed to relax slightly at his confused answer. The old lady didn't say anything just pointing behind him.

Luffy turned to see Wapol, lying face up in the snow. The snow itself was a very dark shade of red. Luffy wasn't stupid enough not to know what was causing the snow to turn that color. Blood, and from the looks of things a lot of it.

Luffy turned back to his comrades with a confused expression pointing at himself, not sure how else to ask the question. He received three nods as his answer. Luffy's face turned green.

"GROSS! I WAS INSIDE SOMEBODY!" He yelled as he picked up a clump of snow and made as if to scrub himself clean. "GROSSGROSSGROSSGROSSGROSS!" He yelled as he all but rolled in the snow in an attempt to get "clean".

Unbeknownst to Luffy a new group of people had just joined them on the mountain.

"Oi, What's up with Luffy?" Zoro asked as he looked at his rolling captain. Vivi and Usopp had similar looks of confusion as they watched the spectacle.

"Don't ask." Both Sanji and Chopper said in unison while Doctorine gave a wicked cackle.

Zoro just raised his brow before looking at the downed and very bloody form of Wapol. He had to admit, he admired his captains ability to defeat the enemy, especially with such finality. But it still didn't explain why Luffy was rolling around on the ground. When Dalton saw the body he seemed relieved and in slight awe of Luffy. No one had dared get any closer to the mess.

Luffy eventually stopped. Getting to his feet and dusting the snow off his person, he saw something gleam on the ground, a large key. Luffy didn't know what it was for but he pocketed it anyway, it could be the key to the pantry after all.

-o0O0o-

Luffy sweated heavily as he was stared down by an angry Nami.

"Luffy…" Nami said with a dangerously low voice. "Care to explain to me why my jacket is torn and covered in blood?"

Luffy fidgeted trying desperately to break eye contact with the woman. "W-well… you see…" Luffy faltered. He definitely didn't want to go and say that he had been inside another individual with her jacket. Even to Luffy that screamed bad idea.

Nami sighed. "Mah… Whatever. I didn't expect it to come back in one piece anyway." She turned away but for some reason Luffy only felt more uneasy about the whole situation. "I expect to be reimburse of course. With three hundred percent interest. Four hundred thousand belli"

Luffy openly gaped at the woman. "Don't tell me this was you're plan all along!"

Nami just laughed evilly at his misfortune and her fortune.

"OK I got it!" Luffy said desperately pulling out the key he had found on the ground earlier. "I'll give this to you!"

Nami turned and regarded the key curiously before taking it. "This better be for something important or I am doubling your debt." Nami threatened.

Luffy slumped against the wall, feeling oddly worn out from that encounter but still relieved.

-o0O0o-

Roughly one week ago. Drum kingdom.

Ace had just delivered his message for Luffy. He had no doubt his younger brother would eventually come through this island. Call it a brother's intuition.

He was even having a "cool" moment after wards, the mysterious figure that rolled into town out of nowhere on a day with no snow, quietly walking away down the street. But of course that hadn't lasted too long, The owner of the restaurant had to show up and call him out for his dine n' dash.

"You should learn to pay for your meals one of these days, Ace-kun." A voice that Ace knew all too well said.

He turned to find none other than Captain Hatake Kakashi, sitting idle atop a crate reading his little orange book... As usual for the Cyclops. "Kakashi. Long-time no see." He said raising his hand with a smile even as he adjusted his stance to one that was just a little more threatening. They were not necessarily on bad terms but he was a pirate and Kakashi was a marine.

"Calm down Ace-kun. I am not here for another fight." Kakashi said. They had been "fighting" with one another for a long time in all actuality all of their confrontations had been little more than friendly spars between the two of them. There had been one time, just one, when they had gone at each other with everything they had. On that day Ace had gained a great deal of respect for the captain and a healthy amount of caution as well.

Ace relaxed his stance believing Kakashi's words, he was not such a petty man as to use such a cheap trick, although Kakashi was known for using tricks in combat. "So? Why are you here then?"

"I am looking for a certain pirate." Kakashi answered. "And I believe you would be able to tell me where he is."

"If you are talking about Blackbeard than I am sorry but he is my prey." Ace said giving Kakashi a challenging look.

"Mah, mah. Calm down Ace-Kun. I am not looking for Blackbeard." Kakashi said making placating gestures. "I am referring to the other pirate you seem interested in. the one with the straw hat."

"Luffy?" Ace asked bewildered, and a little worried. If this man was to face off against Luffy there was no doubt his younger brother would get destroyed.

"You know him?" Kakashi asked.

"He is my younger brother." Ace said in answer letting a warning tone lace his words.

Kakashi nodded. "No wonder you could combat my Sharingan so easily." Kakashi said, looking back down at his book and turning the page.

"yeah. I learned how to beat my brother before I ever got my devil fruit." Ace said.

"Oh? So he _does_ have the sharingan then." Kakashi said. "Thank you for the information ace-kun. That was all I needed." Kakashi's single visible eye took on the Cyclops's signature "eye smile" at the end of his coment.

Ace kicked himself mentally for letting the tricky bastard fool him so easily. "What do you plan on doing to my brother." The warning tone was not hidden this time as his voice range with the clear challenge. Ace was willing to resort to true and honest violence against Kakashi if it meant protecting his brother.

Ace's demeanor did not go unnoticed by Kakashi. He had fought Ace before and knew very well that even when the young man didn't have access to his devil fruit powers he was a formidable opponent. "Nothing." Kakashi answered honestly. "I don't intend to capture him. just find out if he has the sharingan." Kakashi chucked lightly as he saw the relief upon Ace's face. "A fight between devil fruit users is already overly destructive. A fight between sharingan users is not something I would like to subject anyone to." Kakashi said as he got up from the crate

Ace watched the man, deeming his words to be the truth, he dropped his aggressive stance. But he was confused. "How do you have the sharingan anyway? I have always wanted to ask." Ace spoke up before the man could leave.

Kakashi looked back at his, for lack of a better word, rival. "This is not _the_ sharingan."

Ace chuckled.

"How ironic. Copy-cat Kakashi, the scourge of devil fruit users everywhere and the weapon for which he is most feared is itself just a copy." Ace laughed. Kakashi vanished in a burst of speed without answering Ace. Soru if Ace wasn't mistaken. Ace himself turned out of the ally and began his walk to the docks.

"THERE HE IS!" Someone yelled from up the street. "don't let him get away! He owes me for all the food he ate!"

Ace ducked down another ally as he ran. That restaurant owner was certainly persistent.

-END-

**another chapter up**

**I considered doing more substantial edits to this one but decided to keep it as it was. there was an Omake written about the fight with wapol that I lost so I decided to keep the fight as it was as a nod to that guy/girl. A few of teh events require filling some blanks but that should be fairly easy, its just stuff from the show I didn't feel like rehashing.**

**Luffy got his canon ball catching/throwing from Garp.**

**Kakashi and Ace are friendly with one another simply because Ace is kind of lazy and Kakashi is a pragmatist. He would probably deem the collateral damage from an all out fight with Ace to be too high to risk an actual fight with the pirate. so they are respectful of one another if nothing else.**


	8. Chapter 8

Zoro lay on the deck watching the clouds drift by. He ignored the sound of his stomach growling and if anyone were to ask him about it he would say that it had never happened. He listened as Sanji carried out his "interrogation" of Luffy, honestly who else could have eaten all the food in the pantry in a single night. There was really only one possible person on board.

The sound of Luffy flying across the deck signaled the conclusion of the interrogation.

Of course Zoro had to admit, Luffy had some help. As soon as the news had broken that there was no more food, everyone on board had scrambled to collect whatever scraps they could by any means necessary. Zoro grumbled to himself, the sea witch Nami had held his debt over his head and demanded his food. Now all he could do was lay around and wait for the four crewmates that were fishing to finally catch something. Even if they did though, what was one or two small fish between the nine of them?

They succeeded in catching four fish, more than Zoro had thought they could catch. They were small though. Zoro thought about maybe just diving over the side and catching something larger with his hands. He probably could do it too.

Zoro sighed. Nami would probably get into a panic about that though. So he couldn't do it.

Zoro sighed as he looked up at the steadily darkening sky.

Thus passed day three of their voyage to Arabasta, and day one of their voyage without food.

-o0O0o-

Chopper stood over his mortar and pestle as he ground several ingredients together. Many ingredients. As doctor of the straw hat pirates it was his job to look after the health of the crew. Usually it would be Sanji's job to oversee their diet but considering Sanji had little to nothing to work with, that left Chopper to do the job.

"Apis, could you look through those jars for some rice?" Chopper asked not taking his eyes off of his work.

"Here you go Chopper." Apis said handing chopper the jar. "Hey, Chopper. Can't we eat most of this stuff?" Apis asked. Chopper stopped his work for a moment to look over the jarred ingredients that surrounded them. While most of them were poisonous when not treated in some way or mixed with something else, there were dried vegetables and seeds that a normal human would have no trouble eating.

Chopper had actually considered giving the ingredients to Sanji, but chopper knew that if he opened that door he would never be able to close it. His ingredients were treated and stored especially for medicine and like he said before, most of them were poisonous on their own. If Luffy got wind that even a few of his ingredients could be eaten chopper was sure the captain would empty every jar.

"Oh that's why." Apis said, having apparently caught wind of some of his thoughts.

"yeah… that's why. Besides I am using the ingredients now to solve our food problem." Chopper said measuring out a portion of rice before adding it to the mixture. He started grinding away again.

"How are you going to do that?" Apis asked curiously.

Chopper looked up at her and blinked. He probably should have shown Apis what they were actually doing before they started. He went over to his mostly empty bag and rummaged through it until he found what he was looking for. He returned to Apis's side with a folded parchment. He opened it up to reveal a few small dark pills. He offered one to Apis who examined it curiously before putting it in her mouth. "Doctrine taught me how to make them. These will give someone enough energy to work for three days. It is just a pill though so it won't make you feel full but it will prevent the adverse effects of prolonged starvation." Chopper explained. He had been making a batch of these when he had accidentally stumbled upon the recipe for his Rumble Ball.

"Wow! That is amazing!" Apis said with a smile. "They don't taste that good though. You can make these with just the ingredients you have there?" Apis asked looking at the line of jars filled with flowers, seeds, rice , and dried vegetables. "That is amazing!"

"Shut up~! Like that would make me happy~!" Chopper blushed as he did a small little dance at Apis's praise. Chopper's blushed in greater embarrassment once he realized he was doing it. "Yeah, this is the last ingredient." Chopper said as he measured out the contents of the jar into the bowl.

"What is that?" Apis asked as he looked at the scraggly looking mass of something.

"Dried grasshoppers." Chopper answered as he ground them in.

"EWW! Gross! And I ate them?" Apis stuck her tongue out with a grossed out and slightly panicked look on her face.

Chopper just looked at her in confusion. He supposed he should make it a general policy not to tell anyone what was actually in his medicines.

Thus passed day four of their voyage to Arabasta, and day two of their voyage without food.

-o0O0o-

Nami took another sip of ice water; it helped with her hunger, making her feel more full than she actually was. Chopper may have made those miraculous food pills so she wasn't going to damage her figure by going hungry. They had all had one yesterday and another this morning. But Luffy, being the impulsive individual that he was, had eaten two whole handfuls. He had been far beyond just hyper at that point.

He had run up and down the ship making a racket the whole day and then continued into the night. It had eventually taken both Zoro and Sanji to restrain him. his weakness to being submerged in water came in handy as they had left him to soak in a very large barrel of water overnight. He had been incredibly drowsy when he had woken up that morning, all his energy had thankfully been soaked out of him.

Nami looked out the windo just in time to see none other than Luffy make his way passed. He looked shifty. Nami herself had had that look far too many times not to spot it from a mile away. Nami narrowed her eyes. The only reason her captain would be acting like that would be if he had something he wasn't supposed to have. And given their current situation there was really only one thing that luffy could be trying to hide.

Food.

Nami stood up with a smirk. One way or another the food Luffy had would be hers.

Nami made her way to the back of the ship making sure to appear as if she was just checking on the weather so that no one else followed her.

She came upon the captain crouching close to the railing, giggling to himself. He sounded proud of himself.

"What do you have there?" Nami asked causing her captain to jump.

He quickly turned around holding his hands behind his back, and whatever he had out of her sight. "Nothing." He said quickly.

"Nothing?" Nami asked leaning closer to make him more uncomfortable.

"Nothing." Luffy assured, nervous sweat forming on his brow and looking anywhere but at nami. Obviously lying

Nami put some distance between them eliciting a sigh of relief from her captain. Nami smiled, letting Luffy think he was able to get one by her for a few moments. "You're lying." Nami said simple.

Luffy looked around panicked. "N-no. Really. It's nothing."

"Then show me your hands." She challenged.

Luffy seemed to be struggling to find a way out of his current predicament. He fidgeted and even shuffled back away from Nami. He eventually sighed before revealing that he had in his hands a whole sandwich, much to Nami's surprise. Nami licked her lips at the sight of it.

"That wasn't so hard was it?" She asked, she took a step closer to Luffy. "Now Luffy you are going to give me that sandwich, understood?" She asked, a deceptively kind smile on her face.

"No!" Luffy said cradling the morsel closer to him, protecting it from Nami. "I found it. It's mine."

Nami feigned surrender, shrugging her shoulders. "Fine. I guess you don't mind if I up you're debt , say… three times."

"But I don't have a debt. I gave you that key." Luffy said confused.

"Yes. But I also said that I would double your debt if it turned out to be nothing." Nami said. "And I ended up having to give it to the old hag so I got nothing from it.

"But a penny saved is a penny earned, right? You said that, right?" Luffy offered trying to think of a way out of his debt.

Nami smirked at his attempts. "Now give me the sandwich, or else."

"No. I don't care about some dumb debt any way." Luffy said turning away and pouting childishly.

"I could always tell Sanji not to make you any food until your debt is paid in full." Nami said offhandedly.

"You wouldn't." Luffy said with comically wide eyes.

"Oh but I would. And you know Sanji would do it too. Now what's it going to be ~Captain~?" she said singing the last word with triumph clear in her voice.

After a long moment when Nami was almost sure he would hurt himself with how intensely he seemed to be thinking "Ok. But only if you remove my debt." Luffy countered finally.

"Tch." Nami's victorious smirk was slightly lessened by her captain's surprising counter offer. Maybe he had watched her swindle Zoro too many times for her to screw him over the same way. "Fine." Nami said snatching the sandwich from his hands."

Neither of them came out the victor in this encounter but at least Nami had a sandwich. It was probably the most substantial meal anyone on bored would have until they reached Arabasta. Luffy's shoulders slumped as he trudged off, his stomach growling the whole way.

Thus passed the day five of their journey to Arabasta and the third day of their voyage without food.

-o0O0o-

It had been a few hours since Bon Clay had departed. Luffy was still surprised that he was their enemy, he seemed like a nice guy. And his shape changing trick was cool.

Luffy remembered the glimpse he had given all of them of Nami's body. Luffy wished he had his Sharingan activated at that time, then he would be able to remember every detail in perfect vivid-

Luffy slapped himself across the face derailing his line of thought. "That was close. I almost turned into Sanji for a moment there." Luffy said getting confused looks from his present crew. They chose not to comment though.

The Boat suddenly started to rock violently. The turbulent sea generating waves that threatened to break over the deck of the ship. Out from the water behind the ship a giant cat emerged. "Whoa! That cat is HUGE!" Luffy exclaimed

Zoro immediately jumped to his feet drawing all three of his blades. "It's our first meal in four days!" Zoro exclaimed happily.

Luffy quickly drew his war fan as he took his position next to his first mate, he had a point after all. "FOOD!" he roared.

The cat was looking nervous, backing away from them. "It's trying to get away!" Zoro yelled.

"Back up! Reverse! Reverse!" Luffy yelled.

"Like that's even possible!" Usopp yelled from his position on the floor.

Sanji appeared by their side having spotted the huge slab of meat the cat would soon become. "You better be some damn good cooking Bake-Neko!" The cat was about to dive below the waves and the three straw-hat pirates were about to pounce when they were suddenly assaulted from behind.

"CUT THAT OUT!" Vivi yelled, They flew forward and struck the railing head first. They were in the perfect position to watch the giant sea cat swim out of reach, fate was mocking them or something.

"Vivi! What the hell!?" Luffy yelled.

"You can't eat the sea cat. They are sacred creatures in Arabasta!"

"Why didn't you say so earlier!?" Luffy said grumpily.

Nami came up with Apis riding Carue. the whole crew was now together. "Vivi. The weather has stabilized, we must be in Arabasta's climate zone." Nami said happily.

"That we saw a sea cat is proof of that." Vivi said with a great smile and a relieved look on her face.

"Even more proof would be what's behind us." Zoro said nodding towards the horizon.

Baroque works. Several dozen ships small and large.

"The employees are starting to gather." Vivi said ominously. "Those ships are probably billions. The officer agent's subordinates. They will be on a completely different level from the ones at Whiskey Peak."

"Fighting 500 of them would be tough." Nami commented

"And these are baroque work's elites." Vivi said by way of agreement.

"Let's open fire while we still have the chance." Usopp said as he took aim with the cannon.

"Idiot don't worry about them. They are small fry." Zoro said dismissing the threat.

"But…" Luffy began. His stomach decided to growl loudly. "They might have food." Luffy said.

Everyone was silent for a moment as the air filled with the sound of quite growling from each of the crewmember's stomachs. "That…" Nami began.

"…Is true." The rest of the crew stated looking back at the ships with an almost predatory gleam in their eyes. Murderous intent filled the air.

Sanji was the first to snap out of it. "We can't do that. If we lose sight of the main objective we will never get anything done. there are only nine of us here." He pointed out gesturing to their group with his cigarette.

"We are almost to Arabasta…" Nami said. "We should have no trouble getting food once we are there."

The rest of the crew reigned in their blood lust and grumbled their assent. Even Usopp and Apis, surprisingly enough, had seemed ready to jump into a fight. Hunger did weird things to people, Luffy thought. Walking with his crew back to the main deck.

Before they reached Arabasta every crew member from Luffy to Carue soon bore a new mark. A symbol of their comradeship.

-END-

**And another. Aren't I just on a roll!**

**though this chapter just acts as a transition into Arabasta so there really wasn't much to edit.**

**not much to remark on either.**

**just take it.**


	9. Chapter 9

The town of Nanohana was busy and buzzing with the sound of people going about their lives. Merchants hawked their goods. Women bought fashionable clothes and fancy perfumes. And crowds of people tot time out of their day to gawk at things they thought were strange.

Like the moving mas of something that had walked its way through the market under a tarp. Vivi was still embarrassed about that.

Vivi felt relief. The town was peaceful. The war had apparently not affected the people as harshly as she had feared. Or at the very least the town was able to act like it was unaffected for those visiting Arabasta. Vivi wished that the war could be resolved just by telling the people the truth but she knew this was not the case. These people were already desperately trying to convince themselves that everything was alright. The people she would have to talk to were the Revolutionary army. To their leader. Even then she had her doubts.

"Vivi-chan?" Sanji asked with concern in his voice. Right, she had been staring off into space for a while there.

"What? Yes? I'm sorry. What were you saying?" Vivi asked startling herself out of her stupor.

"What's wrong?" Sanji asked ignoring her poor attempt at acting like she was alright.

Vivi bit her lip as she peered over her shoulder at the peaceful town. "I guess I am just relieved." She said finally. "From what I can see at least, the town, the people, they are alright. I might be able to help them…"

"It does seem like a peaceful town." Nami agreed.

"Hey, Vivi." Zoro said gruffly, getting her attention. "You had a plan for stopping the rebel army right?" Zoro prompted. Vivi nodded, wondering where Zoro was going with this line of questioning. "What will you do now?" Vii started to give it thought, worrying greatly. "What should w_e _do?" Zoro asked looking her right in the eyes.

Vivi almost took a step back in surprise. "Eh?"

"We will have to act fast if we are going to make it in time." He continued.

Vivi just stared for a moment. Zoro was acting as if he was going to be coming along. "That's true. B-but You only agreed to take me here to-" Bonk! Vivi held her head. Nami had bopped her none too gently on the forehead ending her excuses.

"Oh Please. After traveling this far together we might as well see this to the end." Nami said placing her hands on her hips.

"Nami-Onee-san is right! We are Nakama!" Apis said with a broad smile as she struck the same pose as Nami.

"Like they said Vivi." Usopp said. "We can't just leave you here to fend for yourself."

"Not to mention we get to fight a warlord." Zoro said again a tone of happiness and excitement creeping into his voice.

"You didn't have to bring that up!" Nami snapped getting in Zoro's face.

"not to mention the people we are up against are out to kill all of us. Except me and chopper of course. If we leave now we would be putting the lovely ladies of our crew in danger." Sanji said. Surprisingly not doing his love dance.

Vivi turned to look back at Zoro but was frightened to find Nami mere inches from her face. "Besides that, We can't collect our reward if the whole country collapses. Understand?" Her tone dark.

"Y-yes." Vivi said nervously.

"Very good then!" Nami said her mood doing a complete about turn, a large smile on her face.

"You are the devil." Zoro mumbled.

"Thank you Zoro. Don't think I had forgotten the debt you owe me." Nami said

"D-Damn you."

"Even if I am a ghost I will still come to haunt you from the grave."

"why you lousy…"

"What was it again. Oh yeah! Four hundred thousand belly!"

"It went up!"

Vivi giggled as she watched them bicker. She doubted there was a single man alive that had been able to get themselves out of debt with Nami. "To the north west there is an oasis called Yuba. It is where the rebel army is posted. I would like to go there first to stop this uprising. We will need to cross the desert though." Vivi said bringing the conversation back on track at long last. "So we need to stock up on all the necessities and more. The desert can be a harsh place."

"Leave that to me and chopper." Sanji said. "No one in the organization knows about us yet so we should be fine."

"Thank you Sanji. We will also need clothes." Vivi said.

"Clothes?" Sanji asked not sure why they would need something they already had plenty of.

"Ordinary clothes, so that we don't stand out." Vivi said.

"And Perfume!" Nami said, taking the chance to get something exotic and valuable, and Feminine. Vivi remembered Nami complaining on a few occasions about not having many of those things on a pirate ship.

-o0O0o-

Chopper hid under the tarp, trying to be as still as possible. He didn't know who those people where but they had riffles and he doubted they intended to use them for anything good. He rather disliked the thought of becoming a known witness to their activities. They could tie rocks to his feet and throw him in a river or burry him in the dessert.

No. he definitely didn't like those ideas.

It was lucky that the camel had found him before the men could.

The sway of the camel's step stopped and Chopper peeked out from under the tarp. They were out in the middle of the desert. "A-am I safe now?" Chopper asked looking up at his new friend.

"You bet." The camel answered.

"Thank you. I thought I was a goner." Chopper said sighing in relief. "But why did you help me?" he asked curiously.

"I got no reason. I am cool ain't I?" The camel said cracking a broad smile that gleamed in the sun light.

"HAHAHhahah You are strange!" Chopper said jumping from his new friends back. He waved goodbye to him as he walked back across the desert. "He was a little strange but a nice guy." Chopper sniffed the air trying to find his way back. The pungent scent of Perfume drifted from the south, that was definitely the way back. But another scent drifted to him. Dry, hot, earthy, Chopper almost mistook it for the smell of the desert if it was not for something extra, the coppery scent of blood.

Chopper turned towards this scent to see a man approaching from over the dunes, he smelled so similar to the rest of the desert that he had gotten quite close without chopper being any wiser, less than fifty meters away.

No, this person was not a man, but a boy, perhaps no older than Luffy maybe even a year younger but definitely not fully a man. He seemed stunted in his growth, Chopper figured it to be the lingering effects of a premature birth. His face was stern, a blank mask topped with blood red hair. His eyes were heavily bagged and rimmed in black Leading chopper to believe he didn't get much sleep, and making him think of tanuki. And chopper saw a tattoo on his temple, the character "Ai" for love. The smell of blood came from the large gourd he carried on his back.

They stared at one another for a time. Looking each other up and down. they were each a strange thing to behold.

Strangers.

Finally the boy spoke. "Are you alright little tanuki?"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A TANUKI!? TANUKI!" Chopper shouted, it felt oddly reflexive to do so. "I am a reindeer!"

The stranger blinked but otherwise seemed undisturbed by Chopper's outburst. "Forgive me. There are not many deer present on a desert island, I was unable to recognize you." He said politely before falling silent. "You have eaten a devil fruit I take it?" He asked bluntly, his voice low and dry.

"The Hito Hito No Mi." Chopper answered. "I am a human reindeer." Chopper answered.

The stranger just nodded. "Do you need any help?"

"Eh?"

"You are alone in the desert. If you are lost than I can help you." He said simply, blandly.

"Uh. No I am not lost." Chopper answered. The stranger just nodded before turning in the same direction the camel had walked and began to leave.

"Be careful. The desert can be an unforgiving place. Even this close to town." He said over his shoulder before disappearing in what seemed to be a swirl of sand.

Chopper blinked. "what a strange guy but he was nice. Huh? Why do I feel like I have said that already?" Chopper shrugged it off along with his slight feeling of unease and started on his way back to his friends.

-o0O0o-

Koza of the revolutionary army led his men north towards Yuba. Their new shipment of guns wwas packed and ready for use when they made it into the hands of his forces. They were an hour out into the desert and making good time.

Suddenly the wind picked up blowing sand into the air. Koza lifted his scarf into his face to shield it from the passing gust. It did not pass however as it continued to pick up blowing more and more sand into the air.

Koza stopped. There was something strange about this wind, besides that it came without warning. It was calm. Yes that was the word. A calm gust of wind. That was very strange, a sentence that made no sense. Koza's eyes widened when he realized what was happening. There was no wind, just sand.

"EVERY ONE! We've got company! Gather the guns, as many as you can carry and mount the ducks. We have to get out of her! NOW!" Koza yelled urgently. He was glad to see that his men were listening to him. Ever since the start of the war these guerilla style attacks on their forces and supply lines had been persistent. They were quick and violent but often came with some form of warning before each attack. Each sign included sand in some way.

"AAAAH!" Someone yelled before a sickening crunch ended the sound of panic. It had started. Already as he watched the sand rise up and swallowed many of their wagons and everyone around them. Koza jumped away from a hand of sand that attempted to grab his ankle. He quickly remounted his duck and led his men away. Those that did not have a duck were unfortunate and Koza felt for them, he did, but if he went back to help them escape none of them would.

In the single minute that it had taken for Koza and his men to gather the guns and mount up, the sand had already claimed more than a quarter of his men. "MOVE!" Koza roared, setting their mounts sprinting away as fast as they could be carried.

Koza turned back to look their attacker in the eye. A boy he knew. A boy he once called a friend. Not anymore. "Gaara." Koza said in a low voice.

"Koza." Gaara responded in his usual tone. "Stop this Koza. There is no need to continue this war."

"No Gaara! This country is sick! A _monster _like you wouldn't understand that. You are a perfect example of it! Slaughtering us wholesale!" Koza yelled. Gaara actually flinched.

"I did not want this Koza, and I do not enjoy what I must do to protect the people of Arabasta."

"The people of Arabasta HATE YOU! They are _afraid_ of you!" Koza said not buying for a minute that Gaara cared about the people of Arabasta beyond his own body count.

"I cannot stand idle while you escalate this violence." Gaara said. His stance widened. "I am sorry Koza." Gaara brought his hands up before slamming them onto the ground. "**Sand tsunami!**" Gaara said as sand started to rise in front of him. Koza waited no longer to turn his mount around and set off at full sprint after his men. Not looking back at the massive wave of sand that gave chase.

It was not cowardice to run from that man. He was not an ordinary opponent.

He was a monster.

-o0O0o-

The sun beat down upon the desert island of Arabasta. The air rippled from the heat, and the winds were dry and grating, like sandpaper.

A single figure made his way through these nearly inhospitable conditions.

"uuuuuugggghhhhh. Sooooo Huuungry."

Luffy hobbled onward, his stomach complaining loudly with every step. "That lunch wasn't nearly enough." Luffy grumbled. "Foood! Where are you!?" Luffy's sight was swimming.

Luffy crested a dune and came face to face with a racoon. A red racoon. Luffy couldn't say he had ever eaten racoon before.

"Foooood…" Luffy groaned as he salivated.

The racoon took a step back.

Luffy took a step forward.

"The town is that way." The racoon said pointing into the distance. "You will have no problem finding a restaurant." Now that Luffy focused a little more on the racoon he found that it wasn't a racoon at all but a person who looked like a racoon, a red haired guy, it reminded Luffy of shank's hair.

"Thanks Racoon-guy." Luffy said before running into the distance, even going so far as to use the stealth foot so he could get there faster. He leaves a bewildered but outwardly stoic desert traveler behind, idly using his power to keep the sand from Luffy's wake out of his face.

Luffy didn't pay the very helpful racoon-guy any more mind as he traveled across the sands. Already Luffy could smell the unmistakable aroma of meat, there was a weird sweet smell that was getting in the way but he could tell he was moving in the right direction.

Many of the market goers freaked out when Luffy seemed to suddenly appear out of thin air. A man selling golden apples nearly had a heart attack when he disappeared again. Luffy didn't notice though. He was far too busy running full tilt down the road his nose held high as he sniffed the air.

"AH! A Restaurant!" Luffy cheered as his destination finally came into view. With it came the smell of smoke and campfires, he paid these little mind however as he put more effort into his running.

-o0O0o-

Ace woke up blearily, he was vaguely aware of the food that he had been using as a pillow; he felt it all over his face. Lifting his head he looked around blinking. He saw a piece of pink fabric

"Um excuse me… Are you-" the voice was cut off as Ace wiped his face on what he now knew was the woman's skirt.

"Damn…" Ace grumbled as he took another bite of food. "I fell asleep."

"WHAT!? HE FELL ASLEEP?!" What sounded like a crowd of people yelled. Ace looked behind him and saw that there was in fact a crowd of people looking quite worked up.

"Why are you guys worked up?" he asked as he took another bite of food.

"WE WERE WORRIED ABOUT YOU!" Three men yelled.

"Do you hire comedians here or something?" Ace asked the bartender.

"I don't think so Ace-kun." A voice said from Ace's right.

He already knew who it was. "What are you doing here Kakashi? I thought you would be back at Marineford already." Ace asked looking the one eyed man in the, well, in the eye.

"I would like to but I can hardly cite a pirate as my source. The higher ups probably wouldn't like that." Kakashi said offhandedly.

"So you won't stop coming after my brother?" Ace said his voice dangerous.

"I just want a peek. See that he has the eyes and I'll be on my way." Kakashi answered, pulling out his little orange book.

"So you say." Ace said looking at Kakashi suspiciously. "Why couldn't you just go back and say you've seen the eyes?"

Kakashi was silent as he turned the page.

…

He was silent when he turned the next page as well.

…

"Did you say something?" Kakashi asked finally looking up.

Ace ground his teeth at his long time rival's antics.

"I see you have no problems with eating in public, second division captain of the White-beard pirates, Portgas D. Ace." A gruff voice said, it sounded kind of angry. Ace recognized it, he had very few occasions to cross paths with the man but it was hard not to remember his name, the smell of smoke was overwhelming after all.

There were shouts of panic and surprise at the revelation. Neither ace nor Smoker paid the outcry any mind, and Kakashi just went back to reading his book.

"What's a big shot like you doing in this country?" Smoker asked gruffly.

"I am searching…" Ace said turning to face the smoking captain. "…For my little brother." Ace said

The atmosphere was tense as Ace stared down smoker, a challenging grin plastered on his face.

"Now, now, play nice you two." Kakashi spoke up not looking up from his reading material. "I am about to find out if the hero finally finds his true love."

"Kakashi… Still reading that smut I see. Why haven't you done anything about that pirate sitting next to you?" Smoker grumbled looking at his fellow captain. "Perhaps you would also like to tell me how I came across a pirate with the Sharingan?"

"Hah!" Ace said loudly pointing at Kakashi. "See!? Now you have a 'credible' witness. Now hurry up and go home!" He yelled.

"Capturing Ace-kun isn't worth the collateral damage and I am on another mission right now." Kakashi said ignoring Ace's outburst and smoker's second question.

"Then you aren't going to do anything?" Smoker asked sounding angry.

"I am hardly going to stop you either." Kakashi said turning the page in his book. Smoker started reaching for his jute and the tension was unbearable for the other customers.

"ffffffooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!" Ace barely registered the sound of the voice when suddenly smoker was being propelled towards him.

The two of them were sent flying through several walls leaving behind them a large hole.

-o0O0o-

Kakashi blinked the dust out of his eyes as he looked through the hole. He looked back to see a very hyperactive kid in a straw-hat sitting impatiently at the bar yelling for food with a massive grin on his face. Kakashi of course recognized the boy as the one and only Monkey D. Luffy, the man who supposedly possessed the Sharingan.

Kakashi raised his brow when he saw the massive Gunbai on the boys back; it was an unorthodox choice of weapon.

The boy was served promptly. The bartender had a nervous look as he constantly looked towards the hole as if he expected the other two to re-emerge at any moment. Kakashi supposed he was right to do so.

"Uhhhh. Kid. You should probably get the hell out of here." The bartender said sweating nervously.

"eh? Why?" Luffy asked, he seemed to be completely oblivious to the clear and present danger he had put himself in. Kakashi wondered if he was really so confident.

"Do you even know who you just sent flying?" The bartender asked.

"Sent flying? Me? Who did I send flying?" Luffy asked not stopping or even slowing down as he shoveled food into his mouth. The sheer amount of food reminded Kakashi of his old student.

The bartender pointed back at the new hole in the wall. Luffy leaned over to get a better look at the hole, still not slowing as he devoured his food. "What's with this hole? Is this you're hobby or something?" Luffy asked.

"YOU DID THIS!" Several people at the bar shouted.

"I did? When?" Luffy asked. Kakashi decided that the boy wasn't so much confident as he was just dense. Kakashi sat there thinking about how best to approach the boy. If he was anything like his brother he wouldn't be hard to fool, in fact it would probably be easier to fool this kid.

Kakashi evaluated the situation for another second before deciding his course of action. It was risky and not often used when trying to retrieve sensitive information, but the pay out if it worked was huge.

"excused me." Kakashi spoke up getting Luffy's attention. The boy still hadn't stopped eating.

"Did you need something, cyclops-ossan?" Luffy asked. Kakashi brushed off the minor annoyance he felt, he was only thirty. Kakashi sighed. It was probably his hair, the color threw people off.

"You wouldn't happen to have the sharingan would you?" Kakashi asked, very few people ever just asked for what they needed.

"wow! Cyclops-Ossan, how did you know?" Luffy said with a wide eyed look of wonder on his food stuffed face.

"When one gets to be as old as I am we come to recognize these things." Kakashi said pushing his pride out of his mind for the sake of maintaining the deception. It was better to work with the assumptions rather than refute them. Not to mention Kakashi doubted the kid would change his form of address just because he asked.

All kakashi had to find out now was how far along The pirate's sharingan had progressed. This was perhaps more important than simply just knowing they existed, that information was useless if he didn't know how dangerous they actually were.

Kakashi opened his mouth to continue his line of inquiry.

"MUGIWARA!" Smoker yelled charging out of the hole and standing between Kakashi and Luffy. "I've been looking for you Mugiwara." Smoker said completely ignoring Kakashi who decided it was best to simply see what would happen. "So you did come to Arabasta."

Kakashi got the impression that there was supposed to be some sort of stand off between the two but the effect was ruined by the incredibly glutinous Luffy, who didn't even slow down as he continued shoveling food into his mouth.

"QUIT EATING!" Smoker shouted. Luffy still didn't seem to be paying any attention. Kakashi sighed. He doubted this individually was as dangerous as the higher ups feared. Even possessing the sharingan Kakashi didn't think the boy was capable of going to war with the marines.

Luffy did a spit take in Smokers face. "YOU! You're Smokey! What are you doing here!?" Kakashi chuckled lightly at the nickname even as he discreetly reached for a kunai. "Hold on." Luffy said before amazingly, he scooped up the rest of his food into one mouthful before sprinting out of the building. He was very fast, kakashi noted.

Kakashi watched as Portgas D. Ace ran after them.

"Eat n' Run..." The bartender said to himself before turning to look at Kakashi expectantly. Kakashi surveyed the damage, the hole in the wall was bad enough but he doubted repairs would be nearly as expensive as all the food Ace and his little brother ate.

Kakashi chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head while discreetly dropping a small pellet to the ground.

A plume of smoke enveloped his form and Kakashi made his escape.

-o0O0o-

Luffy ran across the rooftops. He could hear Smokey behind him. Keeping up with Luffy's speed by propelling his body forward on a trail of smoke.

"MUGIWARA!" Smoker yelled for what felt like the hundredth time. "WHITE BLOW!" A smoke propelled fist closed the distance between them quickly.

Luffy whipped the Gunbai off his back and spun around blowing smoker and his fist back a distance. He recovered quickly though. "WHITE OUT!" He yelled creating a billowing cloud of smoke that began to surround Luffy. "Why did you come here to this country!?" Smoker asked through the smoke

"Why? I am just here to kick crocodile's ass!" Luffy yelled. Luffy blew the smoke away without difficulty, however Smoker was not where he had been previously. Luffy pivoted bringing his gunbai around "GREAT WAVE!" Luffy yelled. Smoker took the blow head on and was sent tumbling across the rooftops, he looked surprised as he picked himself up wincing only very slightly. Luffy didn't give him time to try anything else as he jumped off the roof and made his way back across town. He would have to find his Nakama and get out of here.

While he might be able to go toe to toe with smokey he knew that he still wasn't strong enough to actually beat him. The most he could do was stall.

He had succeeded in getting a good deal of distance between him and smokey, but the small fry were everywhere and annoying.

Luffy decided that all this running back and forth was getting him nowhere. He picked a direction and charged not paying any attention to whatever was in front of him.

A group of marines engaged him with swords, he absently bat them aside with his war fan like flies and kept running.

A line of gunmen took up position in front of him, he just used the war fan as a shield and barreled right through them like a bowling ball.

He still didn't slow down.

Luffy was really liking his choice of weapon, Not only did it look cool and match his hat, but he could use it for ANYTHING. Luffy wondered if he could fry meat on top of it. He would have to try that next time he went camping.

Luffy caught something out of the corner of his eye. He stopped before back tracking to see what it could be. He came face to face with his crew. They looked frustrated for some reason.

"Where have you guys been. I've been looking all over the place for you." Luffy said with a large smile even as a few bullets ricocheted off his gunbai.

"THAT'S OUR QUESTION!" They yelled in unison.

"Why couldn't you loose the marines before you came over here?" Zoro asked. He looked irritated.

"What are we standing here for?" Luffy asked picking up a barrel. "Lets go!" Luffy took off.

He got cries of indignation from his crew as they gathered up the rest of the supplies and ran after him.

"MUGIWARA! You aren't getting away! White Blow!" The fist closed the distance faster than even Luffy had been expecting.

"FIRE FIST!" A voice called out as almost a literal wall of fire materialized between the Starwhat Pirates and the marines.

The fire coalesced into the form of a man. "Still the same as always." The figure said parts of his body still emitting flames.

"Ace? Is that you?" Luffy asked.

The figure looked back towards Luffy. "Its been a long time, Luffy."

"It is you! So you ate a devil fruit?" Luffy asked confused.

"We'll have time to talk later. For now just get out of here. We'll meet up later." Ace said as the fire began to grow once more.

Luffy didn't question his brothers words as he turned about and ran off.

"Oy. Luffy who was that!?" Nami asked looking back over her shoulder at the now growing cloud of swirling fire and smoke.

"Oh him? That's Ace." Luffy said a broad smile splitting his face. "He's my Brother!"

There was relative silence among the crew as they continued running.

"BROTHER!?" they all said in disbelief and a little dismay. The brother of Luffy could only ever be as big a hassle as the captain himself.

-END-


	10. Chapter 10

Vivi danced around another attacker. They were sloppy, doing little more than charge at her swinging their weapons. She didn't really expect much more from them, they were just billions after all, or were they millions? Vivi cut down another agent.

They had crossed the desert. Encountered and overcome all of the challenges that came with such a journey. Everything from birds to giant lizards and scorpions, Mighty sandstorms and dehydration. Bounty hunters and even a pillow fight. But in the end thy had made it to yuba and from their had tracked crocodile down to Rain Base.

Vivi cut down another agent, while dancing around his wildly swinging blade. Her razor sharp jewelry was spinning around her pinky. She felt bad for injuring them like this but they really were despicable men and even more than that she could not allow herself to be caught here. Not while she had so much at stake. Not just her country and her life but the lives of all those that had helped her to this point.

The lives of her nakama.

Vivi remembered her fight with Luffy. It had been the first time since her fist fight with Coza that she thrown punches like that. She imagined that she could feel the ache in her jaw from where Luffy had hit her back, it was strangely comforting. It was then that he had made her understand what she was really putting at risk and what she really had in the way of help. Her Nakama would help her and die for her.

A painful blow fell on her head sending her to the ground. She looked up to see one of the agents standing over her with a gun. She couldn't do much about him from her position on the ground. And definitely not a lot with all the guns that were now pointed at her.

"Wow. You sure were tough weren't you." The one that had hit her said smirking. "But what else would you expect from a former officer agent? Now come along quietly." He said as her reached forward to grab her.

"DON'T TOUCH ME." Vivi said, her anger and frustration clearly showing through in her voice.

The agent's just laughed thinking they had caught her. Vivi tensed her legs in preparation to jump back into the fight.

She needn't have.

A clump of sand the size of her head struck the man in the head, it didn't break apart though, he might as well have been hit in the had by a rock. "**Sand Hail.**" A mono-toned voice said from above.

Vivi new this voice and relief flooded her even as more sand fell from the sky. A good quantity of sand collected below her and lifted her out of the crowd of confused agents.

"Sand? What the Hell!?" One of the agents yelled as the hail stopped. It hadn't taken out many of the agents but Vivi knew the wielder of these powers long enough to know that that move was little more than a distraction.

"It can't be!" One of the agents yelled in dismay as he looked at the red haired figure now standing next to vivi on the roof of a building overlooking the group.

"Subaku no Gaara!" Another yelled"Arabasta's strongest warrior!"

"Gaara!" Vivi yelled happily as she gave her adoptive brother a long overdue hug.

"Vivi-sama. It has been a while." Gaara said returning the hug hesitantly, even as his sand moved to intercept a hail of bullets from the agents below. "you had us worried." He sounded relieved.

"What of my father?" Vivi asked anxiously as she broke from the hug.

"He is well. We both read your letter." Gaara answered.

"Then Carue made it to alabarna safely?" Vivi asked getting a slight nod from Gaara. "I'm glad."

"Thanks to your and Carue's efforts we now know our enemy." gaara said turning to fully face the agents that were still gathered down below. "I will not be long." Gaara said simply as he walked to the edge of the building. He continued walking as a plat form of sand formed below him. Carrying him down among the agents. "This is your only chance." Gaara said as sand started to gather from the surrounding area. "Surrender."

"w-w—w-w-what do you think you can do huh? You're just one guy, even with a devil fruit!" One of them yelled even as another spoke up against him. "Shut up! Do you want him to kill us? He's single-handedly been holding back the rebel forces for months!"

"I don't care! If we kill him think about how famous we would be!" The first argued.

"Time's up." Gaara said sounding exasperated. He raised one of his crossed arms bringing the sand up around him and the agents, obscuring them from Vivi's view for but a moment before Gaara rose from the ground. His hand clenched into a fist. "**Sand coffin.**"

Vivi winced at the sound as the mound of sand compressed into a sphere crushing the agents unfortunate enough to have been caught within. Which incidental was all of them.

"He is rather ruthless isn't he, Princess-san?" A calm feminine voice said from right next to her. Vivi made to turn around swinging her fist at the woman, Ms. All Sunday. The fist was easily caught and twisted behind her back.

Gaara looked up at her, a worried expression on his face. "I can only assume that you are with this Baroque Works as well?" Gaara asked as his sand platform came level with the roof.

"I am." she said simply. "And you are Subaku no Gaara. The monster of the sands. And scourge of the rebel army. It's an honor to make your acquaintance... Tanuki-san." ms. All Sunday said mockingly.

"I will not ask for your name. I do not care what it is or what reputation yo might have." Gaara's stance widened slightly. "I will ask you only once to let Vivi-sama go and surrender."

"Will you kill me if I do not?" Ms. All Sunday asked innocently.

"Yes." Was the only thing gaara said as the stand off continued. Vivi watched as the two stood still across from each other. She knew that her brother would not rush into this situation recklessly, that was never how he operated.

"I suppose I should make the first move." Ms. All Sunday said with a light sigh. She pulled Vivi back and before she knew it pain bloomed in her chest as the air was knocked out of her. She fell to the ground. The force of the blow was strong. REALLY strong, Vivi did not expect the woman to pack such a punch.

"VIVI!" She heard. She watch as Gaara closed the distance between himself and Ms. All Sunday quickly. He must have thought something awful had happened to her if he was doing this.

Something happened that caused him to tumble across the roof. It looked like he had Arms locking his legs together and and forcing his arms behind his back but they did not remain after he had hit the ground.

"GAARA!" Vivi shouted in worry.

"Did it look like I impaled the princess?" Ms. All Sunday asked as a light chuckle escaped her lips.

"A devil fruit." Gaara said with narrowed eyes as he got to his feet.

"Indeed." She answered. Arms sprouted from her body as she struck a pose. "I ate the hana hana no mi. I can make any part of my body sprout from any surface. Power. Speed. Even your infamous ultimate defense means nothing to me."

Gaara made to take a step forward but ms. All Sunday formed an x shape over her chest causing new limbs to sprout forcing him into another hold.

"S-Submission..." Vivi said as she watched on in horror.

Ms. All Sunday walked up to he brother bringing her hand back to strike the final blow. "**Clutch!**"

A loud crunch was heard, but it sounded more like a crack and Vivi thought she just witnessed her brother's death.

And then his body exploded.

-o0O0o-

Robin found herself in an uncomfortably tight cocoon of sand. The Gaara she had incapacitated had turned out to be a clone, and a trapped clone at that, turning into the sand that now ensnared her.

Robin felt a bit of fear, given her opponent's reputation she was not likely to walk away from this unscathed, or alive. Robin squashed this fear. It wasn't as if she didn't have a contingency plan.

She turned her had to look at the princess. She was just in time to see the real Gaara emerge from the platform of sand that had still been floating above the plaza.

"Oh my. It seems I have been caught." Robin said forcing her voice to remain steady. "So? What do you plan to do with me, Tanuki-san?" Robin said, she would not beg, never. But she would stall. She was comforted slightly at the slight twitch her Tanuki comment elicited from the boy.

"You are not the common foot soldier." Gaara said simply. "You will take us to your boss."

"And if I don't know where he is?" Robin asked, trying to draw the conversation out.

"Then you would not have come for Vivi-sama." Gaara answered immediately. Robin swore quietly. It was just her luck to have Gaara as her opponent. His reputation did him no justice. He was always portrayed as a bloodthirsty monster that simply buried everything in his way. But Robin had to admit, while he was certainly ruthless he possessed a cunning that had taken her completely by surprise.

Gaara knelt down to help Vivi to her feet. "Are you alright Vivi-sama?"

Robin let a sigh of relief slip past her lips, this was what she was waiting for. She moved the arm that she had left behind on Vivi, he contingency plan.

Gaara froze, his eyes opening wide in shock before he fell to his knees. Robin felt the sand around her slacken slightly.

"GAARA!" Vivi yelled in dismay.

Robin ignored the scene, she wasn't out of the woods yet, and if she squandered this moment she had no doubt she would die. She moved her hands and activated her power as quickly as she could sprouting arms that dug a hole out of the sand and pulled her free. She did not stop at that as she sprouted more arms to put both Vivi and Gaara in submission.

The sand around them writhed as if suffering from indecision. Robin kept her arms crossed, ever at the ready to use her powers again if she needed to.

Gaara knelt on the group a growing dark stain on his already red clothing, coming from a wound in his stomach. His arms were twisted behind his back. It was fortunate that Robin had left one of her arms active on the princess, that she left a knife with it was even more fortunate.

She was glad that confrontation was finally over.

"Come now, Princess-san, your friends are waiting for you."

-o0O0o-

Robin watch the cage, even as she walked away

Monkey D. Luffy. And all his expressions. Anger. Determination. Encouragement. All for Vivi and her plight. Why? Why was he doing this for her? What did he expect in return? Was it because she was a princess? For money? Power? Love? People always expected something in return.

Robin could perhaps believe those things but even still, the righteous fury that poured off of him, felt in the very air, what reason did he have to be angry on Vivi's behalf?

No one had ever displayed such emotion for her.

No, all she ever received from anyone was cold indifference as they stabbed her in the back. Looks of fear and greed... and lust. Robin shivered.

Robin felt envy. And she could understand why she felt this way. Vivi had everything she never did. And was still being given these things. Even as her world crumbled around her she still had people who stood by and supported her.

How was it that even given Vivi's situation Robin wanted nothing more than to trade places with her. It defied logic.

Robin squashed these feelings. They would do her no good now.

For now she had a role to play.

She was only glad that the small girl that traveled with the straw hats was not present in the cage. It would have made what she was doing almost unbearable.

Robin turned away full to follow after crocodile. As much as she detested the man he was necessary for her to reach her goal.

"Vivi!" Luffy's voice called from behind. "Get us out of here."

Robin's stepped stalled for a spit second. Such a declaration was unexpected from the young captain. He did not strike her as the cowardly type at all.

"Oh? Finally begging are you, Strawhat? Its only natural. Everyone fears death." Crocodile said, it was just like him to ad his two cents to everything, having to take every opportunity to belittle and degrade.

"If we die here, there would be no one to kick your ass!" Luffy yelled at Crocodile. A smile came to robins face, albeit a light one.

Crocodile turned to regard the boy. "don't flatter yourself." Crocodile said simply before snapping his fingers. A trap door opened and a giant banana-gator crawled forth.

"I had given you the chance to run Princess. But if you feel like staying than feel free. The gators will keep you company." Crocodile said before turning away and continuing down the corridor. Robin followed close behind.

The sound of struggle and destruction could be heard from behind for but a few seconds before it quieted down entirely. Strangely enough the sounds of relief came from behind them. Robin turned to see what had happened but was stopped by the ringing of her den den mushi.

Robin dug the creature out of her coat. "Hello who is this?"

"Hello? Hello hello?" A voice sounded from the other side.

"Yes, hello. This is a millions am I correct?" Robin asked wondering why they would be calling her, perhaps they had captured the crews pet or perhaps the young girl Apis?

"Oi is this thing even on? I've never used a baby den den mushi before." the voice said.

"Yeah its on, just speak into it." another voice said.

"Who is this?" Crocodile asked apparently getting impatient, again.

"Oh, I know that voice." The snail said. Robin immediately crossed off most everyone in baroque works off the list, they would have no cause to interact with Crocodile.

"Have we spoke before?" Crocodile asked, sounding curious, though his voice was starting to lean more towards irritated.

"Ahem... Hello you've reached the shitty restaurant, would you like to make a reservation." The snail said. Robin fought her smile down, whoever was on the other side had a sense of humor.

"Who the hell are you?" Crocodile asked sounding irate.

"I am... Mr. Prince." the snail answered.

"I see. Mr. Prince. Where are you?" Crocodile asked.

"Afraid I can't say. If I told you you would only come to rid of me." Mr. Prince said matter-of-factly. "Well, setting aside whether you _can _get rid of me. I am not so stupid as to give up information so easily. Unlike you, mr. Zero."

Robin smiled at the cheering coming from behind her. The straw hats obviously knew this person. And Robin would guess that this would be the blond man she had seen on the ship when she had visited. She had never bothered to learn his name. She didn't plan on telling crocodile. His look of confused rage was too entertaining.

-o0O0o-

Smoker sighed as he watched the straw hats leave. He had told his men to assemble and to call in reinforcements. The events that were about to transpire in this country were potentially catastrophic and most definitely a breach of crocodile's agreement with the world government.

Smoker took a deep drag of his cigars before exhaling a plume of smoke. "Kakashi." Smoker said turning to look at the one eyed captain.

Kakashi walked up to stand beside Smoker, for once not appearing so lazy. "I heard your order for reinforcements. This doesn't have anything to do with the attack at nanohana would it?"

Smoker nodded. "We need to get all available forces to Alabarna by tomorrow. Crocodile plans to destroy the country." Smoker said, not at all beating about the bush.

Kakashi gave him his full attention. "Tell me everything."

-o0O0o-

Luffy looked down at the HUGE crab. It looked delicious, he could imagine all the meat he would be able to get from it.

It was currently carrying them away from rain base so he supposed he couldn't eat it. He would have liked to try anyway.

Apis and chopper had brought the big guy, who was apparently Lashes friend and unsurprisingly, also a pervert.

Apis was currently kicking at one of the crab's eye stalks, with little effect. "Pervy crab. Stop looking at Nami-onee-san like that. No! Bad! I do not need that image..." And so on. Whatever the crab was thinking, Apis really didn't like it.

The group laughed as they made their way quickly across the desert.

Luffy caught something moving very quickly towards them, more specifically, towards Vivi.

Luffy jumped forward puling Vivi out of the way before grabbing the large hook, the one that was unmistakably Crocodile's. Luffy let it pull him from the crab.

"OI STOP THE CRAB!" Zoro shouted.

"NO!" Luffy shouted back. "KEEP GOING!" They looked at him confused and worried. The crab came to a stop. "I'LL TAKE CARE OF CROCODILE!" Luffy assured them.

"Are you nuts!?" Nami yelled after him.

"Don't worry about me! Just go!" he shouted back as he landed at crocodiles feet with a heavy thud.

He saw Zoro clench his fist around his sword before giving the order. The straw hats went on ahead without their captain.

"We Will wait for you in Alabarna!" Vivi called out to him.

A smile was brought to Luffy's lips by Vivi's promise. He was glad he had her as his nakama, otherwise she would never have survived.

Luffy grinned as he picked himself off the ground and puled his Gunbai from his back. Before him stood Crocodile. And the lady he wanted to join his crew. But it was crocodile he was worried about at the moment.

Crocodile was his opponent.

Luffy's first real fight with a shichibukai.

He was excited.

"She tries to help everyone she meets, no matter how weak she might be." Luffy gave an experimental swing of his war-fan, his light swing kicking up a small could of dust that drifted away on the breeze. "She doesn't want to abandon anything, it would destroy her." Luffy said. "That's why she thinks no one has to die in this revolt."

"No one has to die? Ridiculous. A naive view held by a naive girl. Her view is one only those that have never experienced a real fight could have." Crocodile said, smirking around his cigar. "Don't you think?"

"Yeah." Luffy said. "But as long as you are around she will keep trying to save everyone until she dies." Luffy's stance widened as he drew himself to his full height, which was admittedly not very tall. "Which is why I am going to kill you right here!" Luffy shouted.

"You are the perfect example of an unsalvageable fool, she got close to you and now you are going to die for her. I have gotten rid of countless fools like that." Crocodile said. Laughing at Luffy's proclamation.

"Doesn't that make you the fool?" Luffy asked. Letting his previously angry face burst into a full challenging grin. He was pleased to see crocodile get so angry that he bit though his cigar. He was even more pleased when his comment elicited a laugh from Ms. All Sunday. His grin stretched wider, almost becoming a smile.

"what do you find so funny, Nico Robin?" Crocodile asked throwing her a threatening look.

Nico robin.

"So you're name is Robin, huh?" Luffy smiled outright. He could already imagine Sanji doing his "love dance" while saying something like "~Robin-Chwan!~" or something. He could imagine Nami complaining to another female member and Apis calling her "Robin-Oneesan". Luffy laughed, interrupting whatever Robin was going to say in response. "I like you're name." Luffy said honestly.

Robin looked at Luffy in surprise and some other emotion Luffy couldn't really identify, suspicion? That was an odd look to give someone that just gave her a compliment, Enemies didn't compliment each other. Maybe she would trust her if he gave her some meat, enemies didn't give each other meat either.

"I am glad you like it darling." Robin said to Luffy. "But I would appreciate it if you didn't call me that."

Luffy pouted. "Awe, but your name is SO cool." Luffy said. Cool was definitely the right word to describe anything about Robin.

Crocodile was fuming by this point. "You are wasting my time. Stop flirting with my agent, strawhat."

Robin hid her mouth behind her hand as she laughed lightly. Crocodile gave her another even more furious look then he had previously. "Do you want to die as well, Nico Robin?"

Robin simply turned away with a smile. "If you feel like it, feel free. Besides that, didn't you promise not to use my name?" Robin asked. Luffy nearly had stars in his eyes. _SOOOOO COOOOL_. He kept his thoughts to himself though. The situation was getting serious again.

"Where are you going?" Crocodile asked.

"I'll be going ahead to Alabarna." Robin said as she waved over her shoulder. Luffy pouted again. He was hoping she would stay to watch the fight, but at least she wasn't going to join in herself.

Crocodile muttered to himself as he threw something to the ground, Luffy didn't bother looking to see what it was. He wouldn't take his eyes off crocodile. "I'll give you three minutes. That's all I am willing to waste on you." Crocodile said lifting his hook hand up. "Is that alright with you?"

Luffy let his eyes shift to the sharingan for the fist time in more than a week, He felt relief like he had just slipped out of his shoes after a day of walking. It felt natural. "That's fine." Luffy said before disappearing with his stealth foot. His gunbai came swinging towards Crocodile edge first. It passed right through his body, just like when he fought with Smoky. That wasn't good.

Luffy saw the hook coming far before it would have been a danger to him and easily dodged, leaning back and letting it pass over him. Luffy twisted bringing the gunbai up broadside first, it was the only thing that worked against smoker. The fan made contact and blew Ctrocodile into a cloud of sand.

With his sharingan Luffy saw the sand move to gather behind him. Pivoting he brought the gunbai around to strike his opponent. Crocodile was once again blown away only to reform some distance in front of Luffy.

"Do you get it now strawhat? Even with your special eyes you are no match against me. No matter how-" Crocodile was cut off when Luffy closed the distance between them in an instant bringing his gunbai up into crocodiles chest.

"**Great Wave!**" Luffy shouted. He watched crocodiles eyes widen before he was once again blown away. This time when crocodile reformed he didn't look nearly as smug and only slightly more winded than he had previously. He was gripping his chest but he looked a lot more angry than hurt.

"What is this? Haki? No. This isn't haki. Fishman Karate." Crocodile said looking up at Luffy. "You think you can defeat me with that trick? It is nothing compared to Jimbei. You have no chance."

"Shut up and fight!" Luffy yelled charging Crocodile once again.

"As you wish." Crocodile raised his arm. "**Desert Spada!**" Crocodile called as he brought his arm down once more.

Luffy trusted his instincts as he leaped out of the way. It was a very good thing that he did as well as whatever attack Crocodile had just thrown left a fissure in the sands.

Luffy didn't give himself any time to marvel at the power of the attack as he once again closed in on Crocodile bringing his gunbai around to strike. The blow landed once again. It seemed that the fish thing worked on crocodile so if he kept doing that he should be able to win. And the best way would be to stay up close and continue to rain blows on Crocodile.

Luffy continued to do just that. Raining down blows from kicks and punches as well as his gunbai. Crocodile wasn't pulling any punches either as he no longer just attacked with his hook, now using his hand to attempt to cut Luffy in half or trying to encase his hands in sand whenever he landed a blow.

Luffy's sharingan allowed him to keep just out of reach but Crocodile was getting faster and his attacks grew a little closer every time. For Luffy's part he could tell that he wouldn't be able to take crocodile down just by hitting him a lot, crocodile was panting and had a small bit of blood showing from his nose and mouth. He wasn't really all that hurt and it would only take one hit from Crocodile to end Luffy outright. So he decided that he would have to hit him harder. For every blow Luffy landed he tried to make it more powerful and it appeared to be working, his blows were improving, if at a snail's pace but if he could get his blows to hit hard enough than he could end the fight.

Luffy just needed crocodile to keep missing, just one blow and Luffy would be finished. Luffy wondered if he could get his eyes to hypnotize Crocodile like he did with the black cat pirates. Luffy tried to get crocodile to fall asleep but all it accomplished was making his eyes droop a little more, though his movements did slow down. It was unfortunate that crocodile was able to snap himself out of it so quickly. Luff was once again close to being bisected by the enraged shichibukai. Making Crocodile sleepy wasn't the right course of action.

Luffy prepared to try something else. It was unfortunate that he didn't get his chance.

Luffy looked down at the hook that impaled him.

"You never had a chance from the start, strawhat." Crocodile said as he lifted Luffy off the ground. Water dripped to the ground along with Luffy's blood. Crocodile had pierced the water barrel around Luffy's neck.

Luffy reached out and gripped crocodiles wrist. For the first time Luffy actually touched crocodile. He tightened his grip on the arm and still he did not disappear into sand.

Next time he fought Crcodile he was going to kill him.

Crocodile threw Luffy to the ground and walked away as the desert started to eat the struggling Luffy. No Luffy was sinking. He would die buried in the sand.

The sun finally set on their battle, they had fought for almost twenty minutes.

Luffy wasn't satisfied. He was going to get out of this and then he was going to kick crocodile's ass.

-o0O0o-

Luffy's vision swam as he lay on the ground. He was confused as last he remembered he had been sinking into the sand.

He looked up at the blurry form of his savior. "T-Thank...you." Luffy gasped out.

"Why do you fight?" Robin's cool voice drifted to him. "Those of you who carry the name D?"

"D...?" Luffy asked wincing at the pain in his chest.

"I suppose it was a pointless question." Robin said. Luffy felt a familiar weight land on his chest, his straw hat. Robin had retrieved it for him.

"I finally found you." A voice droned from the side. Through Luffy's swimming vision he saw a red Tanuki, he vaguely recognized it but couldn't place where. "Where is Vivi-sama?" The tanuki asked.

Luffy's vision was still blurry so he reactivated his sharingan to get a better look at the situation. A boy Luffy's age stood across from Robin a large gourd on his back and tendrils of sand hanging in the air around him. Robin stood looking as cool and collected as she had ever appeared but with his sharingan he saw the tension in her legs, she recognized the Tanuki-guy as a threat.

"Ah. What good timing. You can save this boy." Robin said walking away towards a lean looking alligator. "Your princess vivi is safe. She is on her way to alabarna."

"Where do you think you are going?" The Tanuki-guy asked, lifting his arm and sending a tendril of sand after Robin. Robin turned crossing her arms to activate her power. Confrontation was eminent. Luffy reached out with his hand he couldn't let them fight each other.

Everything was still. The boy's sand had stopped in the air seeming to be trying to do two things at once.

"S-stop..." Luffy gasped out to the Tanuki-guy. "She-she... saved my... life."

The Tanuki-guy looked down at him. He seemed to be drawn to Luffy's eyes but at this point Luffy was used to this sort of reaction.

"This boy is the brave knight that brought your princess Vivi back to this country. The least you can do to repay him is save his life." Robin said with a smile as she climbed onto the gator's back. "Good bye, Darlings." and then the gator sped off.

Luffy felt like pouting.

He mustered his strength to pull himself to the Tanuki guy, dragging his body across the sand to grab on to the boy's leg. The boy just looked down at him with a slightly surprised expression.

Luffy looked up taking a large breath and demanded...

"MEAT!"

-o0O0o-

Gaara looked down at the boy that now gripped his arm. The boy that had been able to stop his sand. In all truth they were about the same age and his eyes, the color of blood, made him a far more sinister figure. No, the person now gripping his wrist was anything but a boy.

"Meat!" The man demanded. Nico Robin had said that it was_ this _person that brought Vivi back to Arabasta.

"You are injured." Gaara answered back. "What you need is a doctor."

Gaara made to turn around to retrieve such a person from Rain Base but the grip on his wrist tightened. He stopped to look down at the figure. Despite the severity of his injury he did not have the face of an injured man, or a desperate man, or even a man in pain. He looked determined, and angry.

"Vivi has sacrificed so much for her country, I can't let it be for nothing." The boy said. "Just get me Meat, I'll be good to go."

Gaara continued to look down at the figure, his face impassive.

"Meat does not heal one's injuries." Gaara pointed out.

"I don't care! I only need some meat!" The boy argued again.

Gaara sighed. "Very well. I will retrieve the meat, if you would allow me to take you into town."

"Thank you." The boy said allowing Gaara's sand to lift him from the ground.

Gaara wasted no time walking, instead creating a platform of sand to fly him into town. Time was of the essence and he could not risk any more than necessary.

Gaara brought them down, in front of a hospital. The boy's face scrunched up in distaste. "You lied." He accused Gaara.

"I do not remember saying I wouldn't take you to a hospital. If you behave I will be back with the meat." Gaara reasoned, he crossed his arms as he initiated a staring contest with the adamant boy.

The boy crossed his arms. "No." He refused outright staring back.

"We both require medical attention, you more than I, if nothing is done we will never make it to Arabarna" Gaara explained, hoping he wouldn't have to attempt to subdue the boy.

The boy looked away pouting. "Just make sure its a LOT of meat." the boy conceded. "You're so bossy, Racoon-guy." Gaara couldn't help but label the boy a hypocrite at that comment.

"My name is Gaara." Gaara said as he finally released the boy.

"I'm Luffy, and I am going to be king of the Pirates!" Luffy exclaimed proudly.

Gaara was unsure as to why, but for some reason he believed Luffy.

-o0O0o-

Apis stood panting, frying-pan in hand, over the unconscious body of Lassoo, the dog that was also a gun. Apis usually liked dogs but this one was loyal at best and dim at worst. From what little Apis could pick up from it, the dog had one thing it was good at and it did that thing with pride. That thing being firing explosive baseballs every time it sneezed. Well, he wouldn't be doing _that _anymore.

Apis looked up over towards the dog's partners, mr 4 and ms Merry Christmas. They lay unmoving among the rubble of the nearby ruins. She was glad they were down, although they had nothing on the sleaziness of the mercenary that came after her when she still lived on gunkan island they were certainly unpleasant people. She looked over to her friends, They had been hurt badly. Apis felt that their injuries were her fault, they had incurred many of them while trying to protect her. Apis bit down on her lip in frustration, she had been useless, hardly even able to match up against a single dog.

Apis shook her head, she would not pity herself, her Nakama needed her.

Apis ran over to Chopper, who was screaming for a doctor. Even though he was one.

-o0O0o-

Zoro panted as he fell to his knees. He had done it, at long last he succeeded in cutting steel. It was a mile stone for him. A significant step towards defeating Mihawk.

He groaned as he staggered to his feet. He would not let his injuries get the better of him, as severe as they looked they weren't all that deep nor numerous, his recent learning of the stealth foot technique had allowed him to avoid the worst of the blows. Most people would disagree with him and probably insist he see a doctor.

"Very impressive, Roanoa." A gravely voice came from behind.

Zoro turned to face the new arrival, drawing the Wado Ichimonji as he did. "That was nothing. Come over here and lets see if I can't cut that overgrown piece of metal down to size, Zabuza." Zoro challenged as he came face to case with the Demon of the Mist.

Zabuza pulled his blade from his back. "You're letting your accomplishment go to your head brat. You weren't able to defeat me on Little Garden, what makes you think you will have any more luck now that the circumstances are reversed?"

Zoro smirked. "Injured or uninjured, it makes no difference, I'll kill you."

"Never one to back down are you?" Zabuza chuckled drawing the blade from his back. "Your blood-lust is contagious Roanoa. Very well, If you want to die who am I to deny you."

Zabuza disappeared, Zoro knew he was coming and he knew that his opponent never attacked head on. Zoro readied himself in the brief moments he had before Zabuza reached him.

The loud clash of steel was heard as Zabuza's blade was halted. Zoro and Zabuza stared with narrowed eyes.

"Kakashi." Zabuza growled.

Zoro looked at the newcomer. One visible eye and gravity defying silver hair. He had stopped Zabuza's blade with a pair of small knives.

"Oi, Cyclopse. Your in the way." Zoro said pointing his katana at the stranger.

"You are losing sight of your objective. You cannot be so easily distracted with so much at stake." Kakashi admonished. "Go." and with that Kakashi kicked Zabuza down the road and out of sight.

Zoro huffed, but sheathed his sword all the same. He turned to the pile of rubble resigned to fight another day.

Now just to unbury his swords.

-o0O0o-

Vivi's voice had failed her, and with this final failure she had failed her people.

None could hear her plea for peace over the cacophony that was the violence below her. She had watched her childhood friend and leader of the rebellion shot, the spark that finally sent the situation spiraling back into chaos. And just when peace was withing her grasp.

Even if she did get them to stop fighting, it would not matter, Crocodile's bomb would wipe the city off the map.

She did not want to give up, she would never give up on her people. But it seemed that now, hope was well and truly lost as she plummeted to the plaza below.

She hit earth.

Vivi blinked in surprise. She had been expecting the hard cobblestones and her death to meet her descent. Instead she fell upon a cushion of sand that wrapped around her protectively.

"Gaara!" Vivi cheered as she looked up into the sky. Her brother stood upon his platform of sand arms crossed, beside him stood luffy in the same pose with a barrel of water on his back along with his Gunbai. Save for the straw hat their silhouettes looked exactly alike. "Luffy!" She called out happily.

The sand let her down softly on the ground, where she was quickly joined by Luffy and Gaara. Vivi ran over and hugged Gaara and Luffy. "My voice couldn't reach anyone..." She said through her tears.

"We heard your voice." Luffy said hugging her back. Gaara as usual stood still and stiff in the embrace before tentatively returning it.

Vivi released them as the rest of the crew arrived. Usopp was covered in bandages obviously applied by Chopper, They were yelling. "Luffy! You're alive!"

Apis looked a little banged up, she had some bandages but hardly any compared to Usopp. She stood with her arms crossed, "I told you! Luffy-Nii wouldn't get killed so easily!"

Nami and Zoro were the next to arrive. Nami immediately hit Usopp over the head with her staff. "Usopp! Do you call this a weapon! This thing is better for entertaining parties!" Nami yelled as Usopp hit the ground.

Chopper ran up to him. "AH! Usopp! Hang in there!"

"Chopper, I have a request, don't let me be buried in the wasteland." Usopp fainted dramatically causing Chopper to panic.

"Apis-Chan are you alright? I knew I shouldn't have let you come." Nami said fussing over Apis.

"Nami, I am fine. They are just little scrapes." Apis argued.

"Nami-chwan~! Vivi-chwan~! I'm so glad you're safe!" Sanji cheered as he danced his way towards the group.

"Everyone!" Vivi said finally finding her voice. "You're alright!"

"Of course we are." Usopp said with more confidence than his current condition would have suggested he have.

Her friends were alive and well. Vivi shook herself from her relieved state bringing her back to the harsh reality. "Everyone I need your help. There is a bomb aimed at the plaza, its set to go off in..." Vivi looked up at the clock tower. "12 minutes!" She exclaimed in shock and dismay. That was hardly any time at all.

"What!? Really!?" Chopper screamed Usopp collapsed again.

"You guys take care of that." Luffy said facing towards the high up figure of Crocodile. The crew saw his eyes, The Sharingan was already active, a third Tomoe had appeared in his left eye the other still only possessed two. "I'll handle Crocodile."

The crew nodded and Nami imminently took charge of the rest of the crew.

Gaara formed a hand of sand and threw Luffy up towards his opponent. It was up to him now.

-o0O0o-

The pain was far greater than it had been for any of the boy's previous hits. The straw-hat brat had quickly closed the distance between them and struck him with his Gunbai.

It had hurt. Not like the brief and dull throb that had accompanied his previous attacks. This one felt like all his insides had been twisted about. Crocodile coughed up blood.

What had changed? Had the boy perfected his Fishman karate in such a short time?

Crocodile saw another blow incoming and attempted to shift into sand. He was stopped as the Gunbai once again made contact and the pain returned as he went sailing through the air destroying a small structure in the court yard.

No. that wasn't what was happening. The boy was doing something else.

Crocodile stood up looking at the boy. He saw him squirt water onto his weapon. That explained it. Damn the brat, he must be smarter than he looks if he was able to discern his weakness.

"You can't transform if you are wet can you?" Straw-hat asked his annoying smile in place, and the red eyes of the sharingan staring at him.

Crocodile grit his teeth. "So you figured it out, huh? It doesn't matter, I will kill you here and in ten minutes everyone else will die with you."

"No one is going to die! My friends will stop your bomb. And I am going to kick your ass!" Straw-hat said. Crocodile was grinding his teeth by this point, the brat was insufferable.

The brat looked to Robin, Crocodile saw a look pass between them, The brat's annoyingly determined expression and a slight quirk of the lips from Robin. He would have to remember to kill Robin when this was over, he could not trust her to remain loyal if she was going to flirt with his enemies. "I'm taking King-san, I will be waiting in the tombs." Robin said. Crocodile couldn't tell if that was directed at him or the brat, she wasn't really looking at either of them.

"Do what you want." Crocodile said. "Do not cross me, Nico Robin." He was pleased with the threatening tone he affected. He was not pleased with the light chuckle as she led the king away. He would kill her now if he didn't still need her. He turned back to his opponent. Robin was soon out of sight. Crocodile huffed before turning back to his opponent. "now then, Straw-Hat, Where were we?" Crocodile let his had turn into a blade of sand.

"I was about to kick your ass!" Luffy said bringing his large weapon back for a swing.

Crocodile grit his teeth. "**Desert Spada!**" Crocodile let his blade fly.

"**Typhoon!**" Luffy yelled as he brought his gunbai around creating a great gust of wind, and a barrage of fast moving drops of water. The wind dispelled his blade like dust on the wind. Crocodile felt the tiny bullets of water pierce his body. He grit his teeth.

"**SABLES!**" Crocodile let a tornado form in his hand. "**Pesado!**" The projectile flew towards the brat. Crocodile was annoyed to see the kid get out of the way. It mattered not, the blast radius would get him.

The projectile exploded, blowing Luffy into the walls of the palace, the shock wave destroyed much of the ground and the stairway sending cracks spider webbing in all directions. Luffy erupted from the palace looking bloody, crocodile was pleased to note that he had evened the score. Luffy closed the distance between them quickly, bringing the warfan to bear on crocodile. "**Great wave!**" Crocodile was repelled back again, his feet dragging on the ground as he slowed his momentum. Crocodile looked the boy in his annoying red eyes, fuming.

Crocodile swung another **Desert spada **at the brat but found that his opponent was already dodging his attack. A water soaked fist collided with Crocodile's chin lifting him off the ground. He tried to get Luffy with his hook but found that the boy was once again a step ahead of him as the warfan came around to land painfully on his left side his overextended arm doing nothing to defend him. "**LA SPADA!"**

Four blades of sand launched themselves at the boy who used his Gunbai as a shield. The attack carried him away from crocodile however. Crocodile did not squander his advantage. Launching more blades at the barrel on Luffy's back.

Luffy twisted about bringing the gunbai around to bat the blades to the side. He soaked his weapon again and brought the gunbai around as if to launch another one of his **Typhoons. **Instead. "**Wave Cannon!**" a single cannonball sized glob of water closed the distance between Crocodile and his opponent in what seemed like an instant colliding with him with force that crocodile was sure would put most cannon's to shame.

Crocodile staggered to his feet coughing up yet more blood. Those annoying red eyes stared at him. Through the entire fight the fucker had stayed one step ahead of him. He had heard of this. The Sharingan eye's ability to predict the future, it was troubling to fight against. He should have ripped the eyes from the boys head when he had the chance.

Crocodile half transformed his body launching himself at the boy. "**Desert crescent!**" Luffy dodged easily bringing the gunbai around to hit crocodile. Crocodile moved himself over the weapon, safely avoiding it, Crocodile grinned at the slightly widened eyes of his opponent. He reached out to grab his opponent and turn him into a mummy.

Luffy turned on his heal, spinning around and bringing the Gunbai around to land yet another powerful blow on Crocodile.

Crocodile recovered quickly and leaped back into combat with the annoyance that was Monkey D. Luffy. Their battle carried on for only a minute before it was interrupted, and the sky lit up in a brilliant explosion.

-o0O0o-

Vivi knelt on the floor of the clock tower panting. She had done it. With the help of her friends she had been able to cut the fuse just in time.

Tic-tock

Tic-tock

Vivi got up quickly running to look into the canon.

She saw the bomb, twice as large as she was, it was massive. And it had a timer.

A tendril of sand moved passed her before wrapping around the bomb.

Vivi turned to look upon her brother in all but blood. Her older brother. Her protector since before she could remember. Her family that had willingly become a monster in the eyes of the people to hold the resistance back. Gaara.

"Gaara?" Vivi asked shakily as she saw him just standing there with the bomb, his platform of sand drifting slowly upward.

"This place brings back memories. The secret base of the Suna Suna clan, you got into more than a few fights with Coza here." Gaara smiled slightly. "It was by your father's kindness that I was taken into the Nefertari Family, and I dedicated my life protecting you for that kindness. Thank you Vivi."

Vivi stood attempting to reach out and stop her brother but it was too late, he was already out of reach and climbing ever higher.

The explosion was like a second sun that blew away the dust of the conflict below.

"GAARA!" Vivi screamed in dismay.

There was no answer.

-o0O0o-

Luffy looked up at the sky in anger. The sounds of conflict continued below them.

"What a fool. Sacrificing himself for a bunch of morons who can't stop fighting." Crocodile spoke drawing Luffy's angry gaze. "That bomb was supposed to destroy them but I guess they will have to do it themselves." Crocodile placed his hand on the ground. "You have wasted too much of my time already Strawhat. **Ground Sekko!**"

The grass beneath Luffy's feet dried up and turned to dust even the palm tree nearby crumbled as the once lush courtyard dried up around them. The stones cracked. The soil became hard and brittle. No life existed in the courtyard save for Luffy and Crocodile.

"**Ground Death!**" The ground exploded into sand as the very stones of the palace turned into cyclone of deadly sand. Luffy thought quickly using his warfan to launch himself high into the air and most importantly off the ground. He was still in the air as the dust cleared away revealing a desert where once there was a garden. And Crocodile coming towards him hand outstretched.

Luffy had been able to hold him off easily once he figured out he could tell people what to do with his eyes, well not exactly but that was as close as he could get to describing it, he wasn't able to make Crocodile fall asleep but he was able to make him attack in certain ways, and he just dodged what he already knew was coming. He needed eye contact though.

Luffy could feel the barrel on his back. It was pretty close to empty at this point. One more attack and this would have to be over.

Luffy threw the barrel towards the approaching Crocodile. Luffy sent a suggestion with his eyes for Crocodile to try and drain the barrel dry. Crocodile smirked thinking he had one as his hand came within inches of the barrel.

Luffy smashed the barrel with his Gunbai as he fell bringing the Fast moving weapon and the large volume of water crashing into Crocodile and carrying them to the ground. "**STUNAMI!**" Luffy shouted putting every ounce of strength into the blow and using every ounce of his control over the Fish punch technique to make this the finishing blow.

Cracks branched out in all directions breaking chunks of the palace walls off to fall into the Plaza below. Cracks even formed in the pavement in the plaza. Luffy straitened looking down at the beaten form of Crocodile. It did not look like he would be getting up anytime soon.

Rain fell upon Arabasta for the first time in a very long time. Luffy smiled as the sound of conflict began to ebb away. He would love to go down and celebrate but first he had to go meet someone.

-o0O0o-

Kakashi sat atop the palace looking down at the fight, now concluded, between Sir. Crocodile and Monkey D. Luffy. He was a good distance away but with his sharingan eye open no detail escaped him.

Kakashi enjoyed the display, feeling quite satisfied seeing Crocodile beaten. And he also had to admit that he found the fight informative if nothing else, He only very rarely got an opportunity to observe fishman karate. Although he was on friendly terms with Jimbie Kakashi did not want to insult the master of the art by copying his techniques during a spar.

Crocodile's weakness to water would also no doubt prove to be invaluable information.

But the most important thing that Kakashi was here to observe was the progress of the Sharingan. Kakashi saw that they had almost finished maturing to the complete sharingan, one of the eyes was missing a tomoe but with the challenges the boy was surmounting so soon on the grand line he doubted it would be long at all before they had fully matured. And with the dangers that the grand line presented Kakashi was sure he would be sporting the next level of sharingan before the boy even made it to the new world.

It was a worrying thought.

Not so much because it was a staggeringly fast increase of power but because Kakashi couldn't bring himself to see the boy as a threat. He reminded Kakashi too much of his pupil, forever caring for those around him. The way he acted and went to such extreme lengths for his friends brought to mind one other, a sad and happy memory of a comrade long lost.

Those that break the rules are trash, those that abandon their friend are worse than trash. A lesson Kakashi held close to his heart.

So Kakashi would not confront the boy. Not unless he Luffy did something stupid like break into Impel down or attack Marineford.

The odds of that ever happening were slim.

-o0O0o-

Robin stood before the poneglyph, reworking the cipher for what felt like the thousandth time. The ancient weapon Pluton, a warship said to have been able to wipe entire islands off the map. That was certainly impressive but nothing she was interested in. Even the location of the weapon was written here.

"Have you satisfied you're curiosity?" King Cobra asked from where he knelt, restrained, by the door.

No.

For all that the Poneglyph spoke of the weapon and the tales of its ingenuity and power it did not once mention why the weapon was built. Not a single peep about the events in the world that necessitated the creation of the weapon. Nothing about who had built it or who had commissioned its creation, or who it had even been used against. As invaluable as the information that was on the poniglyph was it was not the information that Robin needed to find.

So, No. Her curiosity was not satisfied.

"Aren't there any others?" Robin asked turning to the king. "Is this the only poliglyph?"

"Sorry to disappoint you, this is the only one I know of." King Cobra answered back.

"Hey, hey, Robin? What's a Pluton? And what's a Juubi?"

Robin blinked. Turning to see who had spoken she was surprised to see Luffy crouched in front of the Ponyglyph staring intently. She hadn't expected the boy to win. She knew Luffy possessed the Sharingan, a powerful weapon in itself but he had lost once before, Robin was not foolish enough to believe that those eyes made Luffy invincible and Crocodile was powerful to say the least and definitely not someone to be underestimated.

Wait...

"Boy, You know how to read the Poniglyph?" Cobra asked the young Captain.

"Poni-What? I don't know what that is. I was just reading this thing." Luffy said gesturing to the large stone.

Perhaps the sharingan allowed him to decipher the ancient writing. Robin looked down at Luffy, if that was the case... "Pluton is an ancient weapon, A warship. Said to be the most powerful ever created. Luffy, what is a Juubi?"

"That's what I was asking you. It says it right here" Luffy pointed at a seemingly mundane word on the stone. Robin would have been skeptical if it wasn't for his eyes. Darting every which way across the poniglyph at speeds she knew were not possible. So the eyes really did allow him to read the cipher, but apparently it wasn't something the boy was in control of, and it gave him a deeper understanding than she had. Perhaps whoever invented the cipher possessed the Sharingan.

"What does it say about this 'Juubi'?" Robin asked. She had never heard the word before.

"No." Luffy said crossing his arms.

"No?" Robin asked. She was offended and panicked. She was so close and this boy just refused to tell her something so simple.

"I Hate reading." Luffy pouted.

Robin felt a small bit of relief that he was not refusing because of something she had done. She huffed softly. "If you tell me I will give you a present."

"Will you join my crew!?" Luffy asked suddenly standing before her, holding her hands in his, a broad smile plastered across his face and stars in his eyes. Luffy spoke again before Robin could answer. "Right! It's decided! You will join my crew!"

Robin giggled lightly, her humor fueled by the bewildered look Cobra was giving them. "You need to tell me about the Juubi first." Robin reminded.

"Awe... Ok." Luffy looked back at the Poniglyph. "It says the Juubi was a monster a primea-primor-primod-" Luffy seemed to be having trouble with the words. "It was a mystery creature." Luffy declared finally. Robin sighed but smiled lightly. "The warship Pluto was made to stop it and then was hidden when it was defeated by the Sage of six paths." Luffy finished. He seemed to alternate between reading words carefully and just spouting off what he thought some of the sentences were trying to say. Robin supposed it was good enough.

Robin stood in silence as she pondered the new information. She now Knew of one of the most important factors in the void century. The juubi some sort of primordial being that was dangerous enough to warrant the creation of a supper weapon. And then this mysterious Sage. There was a great deal more that was needed to fill in the blanks but she at least now had a place to start. More information than she had ever possessed about that time.

Robin was broken out of her thoughts by a hug. A very tight hug. She tensed readying her power to defend herself but stopped. "YAY! Robin's going to join my crew!" Luffy laughed looking up with the smile that Robin was starting to enjoy seeing on the captain. Robin smiled back.

Luffy let Robin go as he swayed dangerously. Robin found the roles reversed as she caught the hyperactive Captain in her arms. He must have been fatigued.

Robin smiled down at him. She looked forward to seeing him again.

-o0O0o-

The sound of footsteps echoed through the now empty tomb as a lone figure walked towards the Poneglyph.

A black cloak with red clouds covered his frame and an orange mask adorned his face.

He stood before the stone for a long time before vanishing as if he had never been.

-END-

**there we have it. this one required a lot more editing. tying a bunch of chapters together and making sure that it still flowed correctly. also had to correct a lot of spelling mistakes and typos. I am not even going to pretend I got them all.**

**a few of the segments end kinda abruptly I have to admit but I also feel like writing anything else on the end of those would be stretching them too far without having anything important happen.**


	11. Chapter 11

Zoro looked down at the x marked on his wrist, the symbol of their friendship with Vivi. Not even half a day after she said farewell and already he missed her. He could not begrudge her for her choice however. She was a princess. He was a pirate. they could not travel the seas together even if she did not have so many responsibilities to her country.

Zoro took a breath sighing as he let it go. as he walked onto the main deck of the ship.

He was going to miss her.

"Looks like we finally lost them." Zoro said by way of conversation.

All he received was a chorus of "Hmms" from his crew-mates. Zoro eyed them quizzically. they seemed rather Melancholy'

"Oy, We did lose them didn't we?" Zoro asked.

Again he received a chorus of "Hmmms."

Zoro pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "What is with those indifferent replies?"

"We miss her." The crew chorused in an incredibly sad voice.

"You know if you guys wanted her to come so badly we should have just taken her." He said, not meaning it. though he kind of wish he had done so. Sh would have forgiven him eventually right?

"how can you be so insensitive?!"Apis yelled.

"You're the worst!" Chopper yelled.

"A real savage!" Nami chipped in.

"Moss head." Sanji added his two cents of course.

"Three swords." Luffy said. Zoro shook his head, his captain could be childish at times. He did not bother listening to any of his crew's banter. He didn't want to show them how much he really missed her, or how much their banter was helping him cope. He had a reputation to keep.

"Oh. It looks we we are finally off the island." a feminine voice said from behind him."good work."

wait. who was that?

Zoro turned drawing the Wado Ichimonji. the other crew members scrambled to get into a position they could attack or defend from. it seemed like the situation would devolve into violence until Luffy got a good look at her.

"Robin!" Luffy cheered joyously throwing himself at the woman, Ms. Allsunday. or Robin apparently. "So you did come. I was worried for a moment!" Luffy had a big goofy grin on his face.

"sorry to keep you waiting Captain-san." Robin said a light smile on her face even as arms sprouted from Luffy's side and started tickling him, causing Luffy to let the woman go and roll around on the floor laughing.

Zoro huffed but sheathed his sword all the same. he will trust in his captain's judgment for now.

"I must admit. I did not expect you to actually be telling the truth." Another colder voice said. A boy who looked remarkably like a Tanuki stepped out onto the deck, he had a large gourd on his back and wore a lot of red. "when you told me you had received an invitation from Luffy."

Luffy looked up from his position on the floor and grinned. "Gaara!"

"Gaara! You're alive!" Nami yelled in surprise.

"What are you doing here? Your country misses you." Sanji asked confused.

"I can assure you they do not." Gaara said in his monotone. "Besides that I am here because I was invited."

"Luffy! Did you try to get everyone to join your crew!?" Usopp asked exasperated.

"No." Luffy said crossing his arms. "Only the people I like."

"But she's our enemy! She's evil!" Usopp said pointing at Robin.

"How dare you say such terrible things about a beautiful lady!" Sanji yelled in the background. Zoro pinched the bridge of his nose again in exasperation.

Luffy crossed his arms. "My decision is final. she's not a bad person anyway."

"She tried to destroy Arabasta." Usopp pointed out.

"No she didn't." Luffy answered.

"no no. She clearly did." Usopp rebuked.

"Give it a rest Usopp." Zoro said putting a hand on Usopp's shoulder. "Luffy isn't going to change his mind." Zoro looked to Robin. he would defer to his captain on this matter but if she ever even hinted at betraying them he wouldn't hesitate to cut her down. And from the look Gaara was also sending the ex-agent he must have had the same thought.

Zoro huffed and walked away, taking up a position at the bow where he could think without interruption.

-o0O0o-

Apis looked at her new crew-mates with a critical eye. She knew she could trust Gaara, he showed up at the last minute with Luffy to save the day. they had until just this moment thought he had sacrificed his life for his country. His country didn't like him but Apis saw nothing amiss with the newcomer.

The other one however was a different story. Nico Robin. She was mysterious. Their first meeting had been without any real danger. and Apis remembered that Robin had kept her word then. Even if Robin was dangerous she seemed like an okay person, the others seemed to have quickly warmed to her at least. She was playing with Luffy Chopper and Ussop using her power.

Apis walked up to Luffy and looked him in the eye. "Luffy. are you sure about this?"

Luffy smiled reassuringly from where he lay on the deck. "Of course I'm sure. They saved my life."

Apis blinked. "Really?"

"Yeah! She dug me out of the sand when I lost to Crocodile." Luffy didn't say anything else as he was pulled back into the play by Chopper.

Apis took a breath and walked up to Robin. She was rather intimidating, very cool and mature and Apis hoped to one day look even half as beautiful as her.

Robin looked up from her book as she approached giving her a small but friendly smile. "How can I help you Redcap-chan"

Apis stuttered in her step a little at the nick-name given to her. It was the moniker the navy had given her on her wanted poster. "Call me Apis please." She said blushing self consciously, she still wasn't used to the fame associated with having a bounty.

Robin giggled, it was a nice sound. "There's no need to be embarrassed Apis-chan. I had a bounty as well when I was your age."

Apis looked up at Robin with wide eyes. "Really?"

Robin pulled out a poster and showed it to Apis. It had a picture of a girl no older than Apis, in fact the girl might have even been younger than her. The bottom of the poster read "_Devil-child Nico Robin_." Apis eyes nearly pooped out of her skull when she saw the bounty. "eig-eight-eighty Million!?" that was way higher than her's and at such a young age too. Apis refused to acknowledge the jealously she was feeling.

"I was eight at the time." Robin said offhandedly. Apis got an impression of sadness from the woman despite her attempts to brush off Apis's surprise.

"Eight? That's younger than me!"

"How old are you darling?" Robin asked. Apis could tell she was trying to change the subject. she must have been feeling self conscious or perhaps it brought bad memories.

"I'm eleven." Apis answered quietly. she didn't like being the youngest member. Having to rely on everyone to protect her. watching them get hurt without being able to do anything. it wasn't something she liked to think about.

"Your lucky you know." Robin said looking away out to sea. "finding nakama so early. Apis felt a pang of sympathy for Robin. The woman looked so serine. calm and collected. But Apis could tell that she was sad and lonely and remembering other time when she was alone.

Apis made her decision about her.

Apis got closer to robin and climbed into the woman's lap. she felt Robin tense but ignored it. "What are you reading?" she asked looking at the book in Robin's hand.

Robin was silent for a time.

"Mysteries of the Rainbow Mist." Robin eventually replied.

"Will you read it to me?" Apis asked looking up at the woman.

"Of course, Apis-Chan" Robin said with a light smile, Apis thought she saw a tear in her eye but smiled as she tried to follow along with where her new Nakama was in the book.

-o0O0o-

Zoro saw Gaara come to stand next to him.

"Are you sure about this Gaara?" Zoro asked eyeing the new crew-mate. "Won't your country need you now."

Gaara eyed him with his usual blank stare. "They have no need of me. In fact my presence in that country may even be enough to start up another war." Zoro raised a brow. the idea sounded fairly far fetched. Gaara interpreted the look correctly as he continued his explanation."I am the face of the monarchy everyone hated, regardless of whether the hatred was well founded. It was I alone that held back the rebel army. and when Vivi went missing I was the one that turned the battlefield into a slaughter." Gaara fell silent as he looked back towards where Zoro supposed Arabasta was, though he personally didn't think it was the right direction he didn't say anything.

"So you left." Zoro pointed out.

"I died." Gaara answered. "it is the best thing I can do for my country now."

Zoro had to give his respect to the man not only becoming a monster for his country but also throwing away his life up to that point so that it could know peace.

Vivi's father treated me and my siblings as his own children. he saved me from my darkness and I own him everything. That is why I will protect Vivi with life." Zoro was confused what was Gaara getting at. Zoro froze at the blood chilling expression on Gaara's face "I don't know what your intentions are with my sister but if you ever hurt her I will bury you. Am I clear Roanoa?" Gaara asked a tendril of sand looming threateningly above his head.

Zoro spluttered. "I didn't do anything!"

"I saw what you two got up to." The sand moved closer to Zoro's face. "Take responsibility."

Zoro huffed. "Whatever you say _nii-san_."

Gaara's brow twitched.

It was the start of a long friendship between the two crew-mates.

-END-

**so when i went over the last few chapters I noticed I wrote in some admittedly very minor interactions between vivi and zoro so i decided to to just take it all the way and then drop it. i might throw some stuff in later but for the most part its all done and wrote. this chapter is just to introduce the new crew-mates and to map out the nature of their future interactions with each other.**

**While I like fluf I don't like writing it so most of the "Relationship" stuff in this story is going to just be a think that develops in the background. no less apparent I just don't feel it is enough to deserve its own segment in the chapters, perhaps with a few exceptions. I will try to portray it in all of their interactions but other than that don't hold your breath for full love scenes.**

**that's all. ciao.**


	12. Chapter 12

Hatake Kakashi sighed as he sent the messenger bird off with his mission statement. It would have been faster to just call on a den den Mushi but after the great deed the pirate had done the country of Arabasta, Kakashi was willing to give the kid a head start.

Of all the pirates on the sea Kakashi was glad it was Luffy that held the sharingan. He reminded Kakashi of his favourite student. It was not as if Luffy was a threat yet. Kakashi had only counted four tomoe when he had observed Luffy's fight with Crocodile.

Kakashi sat back in his chair, letting the sea breeze drift by, carrying his sigh into the wind.

All that being said. Kakashi feared what the boy would become if he ever unlocked the ultimate power of the sharingan. all the hope and joy Kakashi had seen. what kind of monster would he become if that turned to hate.

-o0O0o-

Mock town really wasn't a nice place Gaara decided. He was glad Vivi had not joined the crew if only to never visit this terrible little town.

All the inhabitants kept dismissing him as a threat in favour of Leering at his Nakama, and he could not help but feel a twinge of anger that they would brush him off so easily. Gaara looked askance at the woman in question.

The woman met his gaze with a light smile. "Is there something you need Tanuki-san?"

"Just wondering..." Gaara said keeping an eye on the secretive woman. "I expected you to have left the Straw-hats by now."

"Oh?" Robin sounded surprised. "And when exactly did I have the opportunity to do that?"

"During the rainbow mist debacle. you had ample opportunity to stab us in the back." Gaara said nonchalantly though his eyes narrowed slightly at Robin. "you could even have joined Gasparde during the race."

Robin and Gaara stared each other down for a moment in silence.

"But you didn't." Gaara said turning away

"And what's to say I won't leave at the next opportunity?" Robin asked as they continued on their way.

"You smile now." Gaara answered simply.

"You would trust me just because I smile? I would say your instincts are dulling, Tanuki-san." Robin answered sounding slightly defensive to Gaara's ears.

"You have come to trust us." Gaara said. "You no longer keep your guard up around the crew. and when you are with Luffy the two of you laugh."

Robin stopped. Gaara looked at her, she seemed to be somewhat lost in thought.

"You are one of the Captain's precious people now, he will do anything to protect you." Gaara said thinking back to the words of a dear friend. "I hope you never betray that love."

Robin's eyes snapped to his, looking offended and slightly angry but she was definitely doing an admirable job of hiding it. Gaara inclined his head in respect and acknowledgement. it seemed she would be willing to do the same for Luffy, for any of them.

"And what about you? would you do anything to protect me?" Robin asked. a serious question masked behind teasing humor.

"I have already died once for those I care about. I would not hesitate to do it again for anyone on the crew." Gaara said.

They walked on for a while longer in respectful silence before coming to their destination. a bar near the edge of town.

"Are we going to try this again?" Robin asked raising an eyebrow. "The last few people we asked were quite rude."

"They were annoying." Gaara drawled. "I say we take a more direct approach. I am sure they would find it hard to laugh at our inquiry with a few broken bones."

"Fu fu fu fu." Robin chuckled darkly. "would they even be able to answer if we twisted their legs into interesting shapes?"

"we will have to find out." the two stepped into the bar and locked the door behind them.

The Patrons were tripping over themselves to answer their questions.

-o0O0o-

Nami hated this town, everyone in it were complete jerks. "This town is pissing me off!" she exclaimed aloud

The bartender laughed at her. "Well that's to bad, this town relies on pirates spending lots of money after all."

"So poor pirates aren't welcome." Nami said bitterly.

The barkeep sighed. "Looks like there's no cheering you up." A glass of juice was placed before he. "Its on the house." Nami admitted that this at least went a little ways towards cheering her up.

"Oy! barkeep these cherry pies are really awful!"

"Oy! These cherry pies are exceptionally good!"

Nami looked over to see what the commotion was and found her captain staring down a very large gruff looking man. The man in question was returning Luffy's challenging glare with one of his own. They quickly turned away from each other and went to their drinks.

"Aaaah. This drink is REALLY good!" Luffy exclaimed with a smile.

"Bleagh! This drink is Disgusting!" the fat man said with a grimace.

The two of them went back to their glaring. Nami and zoro both watched on with dumbfounded and exasperated looks.

"Is something wrong with your taste buds runt?" The large man growled.

"Is something wrong with your head?" Luffy replied turning to face the man fully.

"I'm not the cook so I don't really care." The barkeep said in a bored tone.

"Barkeep I'll take 2 steaks to go!" Luffy said.

"I'll take 3 cherry pies." The large man said.

"4 steaks!"

"10 cherry pies."

"20 Steaks!"

"50 Cherry pies!"

"70 steaks!"

"DO YOU WANT TO FIGHT!" They yelled turning towards each other looking very much like they meant it.

"The hell are you two even fighting about?" Zoro asked from his seat. Nami felt like her captain was due for a punch to the head right about now but if there was going to be trouble she wouldn't want to hinder Luffy.

"You're a pirate?" The man asked not dropping his aggressive stance.

"Yeah!" Luffy said glaring the man down from under his hat, Nami saw a little red. If Luffy had his sharingan active then he must really not like this man. for what reason Nami had no Idea. Nami gulped.

The man seemed to regard Luffy for a moment lingering on his eyes with a strange glint in his own. it disappeared though to be replaced with disappointment for some reason. "What's your bounty."

"Eighty million." Luffy answered simply.

The fat man leaned back in surprise. "Eighty million?" He weighed the information for a moment. "You must be lying!"

"I's true!" Luffy asserted.

"Here are your 50 cherry pies." The bar keep said p-lacing the box on the counter

The fat man only huffed before turning away from Luffy and taking the pies with him. Luffy glared at his back the whole way out.

-o0O0o-

Itachi never liked this town. those that kept an eye on bounties at least had the good sense to avoid him in most cases but even so it was not always a guarantee and he would prefer to avoid confrontation if at all possible so he kept his face hidden beneath his straw hat.

a perfect example of a good reason to keep his face hidden was the man who sat outside a bar eating cherry pies. Marshal D. Teach. or Blackbeard as the man preferred to be called these days. He was never an extraordinary threat all by himself, even as skilled a combatant as the man was. But if the rumours Itachi had been hearing lately had even a grain of truth to them Teach was definitely not some one to be trifled with.

Itachi walked passed him. the man regarded him for a moment but made no attempt to stand or confront Itachi.

The doors to the bar suddenly opened and out stepped a very familiar head of orange hair. dragging two very beaten up acquaintances. Itachi stepped into an ally to observe the group.

Teach laughed as the two got up dusting themselves off as if it was a trivial matter despite the bleeding cuts that littered their bodies.

"Oh? Why the angry expression Miss. Your two friends there just won that fight without even having to lift a finger." Blackbeard said with a broad smile. "With a showing like that I am willing to believe you about your bounty." The straw hats said nothing as they stared at one another particularly Luffy. "The dreams of Pirates WILL NEVER DIE! ZeHahahahaha!" Teach laughed as Luffy began to walk away. Itachi watched them walk away, he had to speak to them but he was unwilling to risk a confrontation, with Teach on the hunt as he was.

everyone else on the street didn't seem to take the man seriously, and Itachi supposed that that was one of the things that made him so dangerous. not even his own crew mates or Whitebeard had seen him as a threat until it was too late.

Itachi and Blackbeard made eye contact and the two remained still for a moment before Teach grinned and turned away an unspoken promise to fight at a later time. Itachi left to finish his business.

he tailed the Strawhats back to their ship listening to Nami berate her crew-members and complain about them losing the fight.

"What happened to you two?" The blond cook, Sanji asked looking down from the railing, he sounded unconcerned.

"AHH! Luffy! Zoro!" The long nosed Usopp yelled in dismay at the sight of the two.

An unfamiliar girl with a whit cap ran over to Luffy and started to ask Luffy questions and just generally shower him with concern. The scene reminded Itachi too much of his younger brother. If memory served the Girl was named Apis, a recent and prodigiously young bounty holder from East blue.

"These two got beaten up! That's what happened!" Nami yelled

"Hmph. just like the moss-head to lose in a fight." Sanji said puffing on his cigarette.

"What did you say curly brows!" Zoro said gripping his sword.

"You heard me!" Sanji said getting up on the railing.

"Don't kill each other, especially not Zoro I would hate for him to get off the hook that easily." A bored monotone voice came from the docks. The speaker was someone Itachi had recently assumed to be dead, one Gaara of the desert.

"Fu fu fu. It certainly seems lively here." a soft and melodious woman's voice said. "You can come out. whoever you are." the woman said turning to his hiding place near the cabin of the ship.

-o0O0o-

Robin watched the spot expectantly as the other crew members whirled around readying themselves for whatever the intruder had planned.

out from a relatively shady nook between some yet to be stored supplies stepped a man in a distinctive black cloak adorned with red clouds.

Robin stiffened remembering what Vivi had hinted at previously. This man, Deidara if she wasn't mistaken, had infiltrated baroque works to spy on her without her being any the wiser. she readied herself bringing her arms up to trap the man.

"Hello, Robin." A deep smooth voice said as the man took his hat off his head. Robin froze at the sight of the man. In her memories he was only a boy but the face was unmistakable.

"Uchiha-san." Robin said not moving her arms from their ready position. she was not ready nor willing to forget. but she could not bring herself to act not wanting to put her friends in the crossfire and doubting her ability to even challenge the man to begin with.

"Itachi!" Luffy yelled running up to the man with a smile on his face. robin felt the pang of betrayal at the sight. "What are you doing here? Are you here to join my crew? Oh! I have new Crew-members now! Come meet them!" Luffy said turning to the others. His smile dropped when he noticed robin. His expression became sad silent inquiry in his eyes.

_are you ok?_

Robin took a shuddering breath and lowered her arms. It was not right to judge Luffy based on who he knew. He had no way of knowing what had happened. she gave the inquiring captain a slight smile. By this time the rest of the crew seemed to notice that she didn't exactly like Itachi, her self control had slipped, she had not had need to put up her mask of serenity as much and it seemed she was getting rusty. She would have to be more careful.

Itachi turned his attention to Luffy whose smile had returned only slightly dimmed. "I have met Nico Robin once before." He said with a tone that made it somewhat clear that he wasn't going to elaborate further. "I have not however met with these three." Itachi said turning towards Apis, chopper and Gaara. "Red-cap Apis and Gaara of the Bloody sand If I am not mistaken.

Gaara simply nodded keeping his stance guarded.

Apis and chopper looked between Robin and Luffy not sure how she was supposed to respond to the stranger. They opted for hiding behind robin.

"Is he really all right?" Chopper asked looking to Luffy who smiled broadly.

"Robin onee-san, are you all right?" Apis asked looking up at her with concern.

Robin gave the small girl the best reassuring smile she could muster. "I'll be fine Apis-chan."

"So you're Itachi Uchiha." Nami spoke up for the first time since Robin spoke the man's name. she seemed a lot less comfortable around the man, several of the others had much the same reaction levelling wary looks at the man. Luffy and the two younger crew members remained oblivious to the importance of his name "So you're the one who..." Nami trailed off.

"...Massacred the Uchiha?" Itachi supplied when no one would finish the statement. "Yes I am That man."

"Oh. The Uchiha were supposed to be pretty strong." Zoro said offhandedly. "How strong would that make you?"

Itachi met Zoro's stare with one of his own. "Seeing as They are all dead I would say you already have the answer to your question."

"Why?" Luffy asked a serious look on his face for the first time since Itachi arrived. His sharingan active. Robin was relieved the the man she had come to respect so highly was not going to simply excuse Itachi's actions because they knew each other. "They were your family weren't they?"

"For peace." Itachi said simply. he did not elaborate further.

Luffy looked at him for a time. before nodding. "Why are you here?" Luffy asked at last.

"I come wit an offer from our Leader." Itachi said. "He wishes for you and your crew to join Akatsuki, and help bring peace to the world. All you need to do is continue on to become Pirate King."

"No." Luffy answered immediately. he barely gave anyone else the opportunity to think about it.

"I understand. you do not approve of my past actions..." Itachi began only to be cut off by Luffy.

"Whatever you did in your past has nothing to do with us." Luffy said crossing his arms. "I am the man who will become king of the pirates, The freest person in the world, If I am ever going to do that I will do it on my own terms." Robin had to admire her captain, even with such a powerful individual before him and even when he now knew that there were those that wished to use his dream for their own gains, he did not shy away from it. Regardless of whether Luffy did it out of defiance or lack of caution, Robin would watch his back for him.

Itachi nodded. "Thank you, Luffy-san." Itachi reached into his coat and pulled out a small black den-den Mushi. "This den-den Mushi is connected to a private network. If you ever need information you are free to call upon us. You may not want to be told what to do, but Leader-sama has a vested interest in seeing you accomplish your dream."

Luffy took the small snail. "Fine. But don't expect a call."

Itachi smiled. "I won't. I must be going. If you intend leave you should do so as soon as you are able, it is best you stay off this island for the forseeable future."

"Eh!? Why?" Nami and Usopp exclaimed.

"Just a feeling." Itachi said before he disappeared, the sound of wings beating echoed around them.

Luffy huffed. "Damn, still didn't see how he does that."

"So. What now captain?" Zoro asked getting up from his position against the mast. "We didn't get any information about sky island."

"Don't even mention that place again." Nami growled.

Robin giggled at the display. it seemed that she and Tanuki-san were not the only ones to have a hard time looking for information. they should at least be glad to hear the good tidings they brought.

-END-

**I would have written more but I have left everyone hanging long enough. I actually had the majority of this chapter written for a while. Then I had to get a bunch of things out of the way in life so I sat on the back burner for a bit longer than I would have liked, it may be a tad burnt.**

**so here it is.**


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